LET'S GO, GAELS

Let's Go, Gaels tells the story of one day in the life of a 12-year-old boy.

The story takes place in a Catholic school in upstate New York in 1964. As the week begins, the narrator is thinking about a speech he has to give in English class on Friday, a big basketball game on Saturday, and a trip to the movies on Saturday night.

During the week, however, something happens that changes his life -- and his outlook on life -- forever. The event moves him further away from his innocent boyhood and closer to his eventual maturity as a man.

Jim LaBate grew up in Amsterdam, New York, and graduated from Saint Mary's Institute and Bishop Scully High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and a master's degree in English from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York.

Jim served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica for two years, taught high-school English for ten years (one year at Vincentian Institute in Albany, New York, and nine years at Keveny Memorial Academy in Cohoes, New York), and worked as a writer at Newkirk Products, Inc., in Albany, New York, for ten years. He currently teaches writing courses at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York, in addition to his writing activities.

Jim lives in Clifton Park, New York, with his wife, Barbara, and their two daughters: Maria and Katrina.