Ernie Banks, named for the legendary Chicago Cub shortstop, is a troubled, 13-year-old juvenile delinquent. Abandoned on the doorstep of the Lakeside Home for Boys when he was three years old, he's now considered a “lifer,” a permanent ward of the state. His only proof that he once belonged to somebody is a vintage Ernie Banks baseball card, a crystal acorn he wears on a string around his neck, and a strange spiral birthmark on the bottom of his right foot.
As a last reprieve before being sent to a juvenile detention facility, Ernie is allowed to spend three weeks on a working farm. When Ernie arrives at the home of Russ Frazier, he learns that the widower's baby was kidnapped years before. The single piece of evidence was a red quilt found in a puddle in the nearby woods. Fascinated by the town's famous “Quilt Baby” kidnapping, Ernie is determined to solve the case. He teams up with Joey, a local tomboy, to investigate clues that lead them on a dangerous journey into a forbidden world of dark secrets, magic puddles, and the cavernous underground kingdom of the Puddlejumpers-- eleven-inch tall water creatures with whom Ernie has a mysterious connection.
When destiny summons, Ernie must find the courage to save the Puddlejumpers from the Most Dark and lead them in battle against their mortal enemies. Only then can he find his way home.
Grade 4–8—Shawn, whose mother died in childbirth and whose father, Russ, is a kind and conscientious Illinois farmer, is kidnapped at six months of age by Puddlejumpers, 11-inch-tall elflike creatures who live in an underground cavern complex and recognize Shawn as their "Rainmaker." Shawn is happily raised by them until age three when, chased by evil Troggs, he is lost and eventually left on the doorstep of the Lakeside Home for Boys near Wrigley Field in Chicago. Renamed Ernie Banks and in constant conflict with the cruel administrator, he is, at age 12, unknowingly farmed out to—you guessed it—Russ. Shawn/Ernie arrives to find drought and the evil Holsapple family ravaging the region and threatening his father. Their stinking oil wells pollute the landscape. Following well-established formula, Shawn/Ernie and his new friend Joey venture underground where they rediscover his roots. Events culminate in a Big Battle. Consumed by Hagdemonia, an enormous female oil refinery—sort of an anti-Mother Earth, Ernie dies, but because he still possesses the critical blue acorn crystal...you can imagine the rest, as this seemingly made-for-TV story ends happily, conveying that evil can be defeated by hard work, pluck, and determination. Reminiscent of T. A. Barron's The Ancient One (Philomel, 1992) in its combination of realistic initial setting and fantastical invented world of small humanoid creatures, this is a fast-paced, adventurous fantasy with interesting characters and an explicitly green environmental theme.—Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
