What I Came to Tell You - 9781606845455

New in paperback. A critically acclaimed writer publishes his first juvenile novel, a SIBA Fall 2013 Okra Pick, in the spirit of such beloved novels as Newbery Medal-winning Missing May and Because of Winn-Dixie. Warm, evocative writing blends with an emotion-laden narrative that goes to the heart of the reader.

Since his mother died earlier this year, Grover Johnston (named after a character in Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward Angel) has watched his family fall to pieces as his father throws himself into his work rather than dealing with the pain. Left to care for his younger sister, Sudie, Grover finds solace in creating intricate weavings out of the natural materials found in the bamboo forest behind his North Carolina home, a pursuit that his father sees only as a waste of time.

But as tensions mount between father and son, unlikely forces conspire to help the Johnstons find their way. The new tenants in the rental house across the street who have come from deep in the Carolina hills seem so different from the Johnstons, but become increasingly intertwined with them in unexpected ways. Classmates, neighbors, teachers, and coworkers band together, forming a community that can save a family from itself.

Tender, touching, and utterly compelling, What I Came to Tell You, the first middle-grade novel from critically acclaimed Asheville author Tommy Hays, is a story of grief, love, and hard-won redemption.

A 2013 Fall Okra Pick, Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance

*"Hays is a gifted storyteller, offering up an effective balance of credible emotion, understated wisdom, and gentle humor."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

*"Hays is especially strong at depicting the network of people, old and young, who help Grover and his family move through their grief and, along the way, save his beloved forest."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

You may visit with Tommy Hays on his website, www.tommyhays.com.

Available in both hardcover (ISBN 9781606844435) and electronic (ISBN 9781606844342)book formats