Like Fannie Flagg, but for Children

In my opinion, Deborah Wiles is the Fannie Flagg of children’s books. She writes with that same humor (OK, a bit more G-rated) about those same people in those same Southern towns...even when writing about death or some other heavy issue you find yourself laughing at the names, the small-town habits, the gossip. I loved The Aurora County All-Stars (have you read another book recently that combines Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass with Negro League baseball?) and it was nice to revisit Ruby Lavender and the Snowberger family, who I had come to love in her earlier two books. Can’t wait for more!