B O O K S

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11/2005. vii, 244 pages.
0896725677
978-0-89672-567-6

Summer of Champions: A Novel

By Dewey Johnson

"For me, it is a delight to introduce Joe Don Miller and his Little League team from Roswell. . . . Dewey Johnson takes the reader through the teenage gauntlet that has tested us all."—David Poling, Roswell Daily Record

"Captures the rhythms and sense of community of the small-town Southwest but also exposes the prejudices and political dimensions of the era."—Albuquerque Tribune

1956. Most of middle America is settling into unprecedented affluence; children of the baby boom are the focus of attention as no generation before them; and the Roswell Hondo All Stars, product of the worst baseball field in North America, have set their sights on Williamsport and the Little League World Series.

The affluence of the period has not trickled down to Joe Don Miller, a fifth grader whose father died in the Korean War. Joe Don’s mother, Lurleen, struggles to maintain independence for herself and her son. An avid baseball player, Joe Don aspires to championship both on and off the field. But when his favorite teacher is arrested and his mother loses her job for resisting sexual harassment, Joe Don’s life capsizes.

Complex and multilayered, tragic and humorous, this story captures the flavor of Southwestern culture in the 1950s.

“Dewey Johnson’s champion-in-the-rough, eleven-year-old Joe Don, is the kid you won’t forget in a story that will make you laugh out loud just before you stop to ponder the author’s quiet wisdom. What fun! Three cheers for a new writer whose vision is grounded in dailiness and striving, and reaches all the way to self-respect and love.”—Sandra Scofield

Dewey Johnson was born in Lubbock, Texas, and grew up in Roswell, New Mexico. Pastor, standup comedian, and creator of the “High Desert Home Companion,” he has been “charged but not convicted” of causing the Roswell Incident. He and his wife, Cheri, live in Albuquerque.