Tormented by an abusive father, Boone spends most of his time second-guessing himself and looking over his shoulder. At 16 he's old enough to just leave, but, with his mother and younger sister still in the house, he can't quite make himself. Then, in a single weekend, everything changes.Boone is left struggling to come to terms with what just tore his family apart and the guilt he still feels about what happened to his brother Frankie almost two years ago. And to top it all, he sees the parts of his daddy that he hates most in some of his own thoughts and actions.With no one in his small farming community to turn to except maybe the old man who lives in the next house up the road, Boone's options are limited. School is a waste of time, money is almost gone, and if there's one thing his daddy taught him, it's not to trust anybody.The discovery of a moonshine still on the property where his family was living leads Boone into a friendship with Gamaliel Everett, the old recluse who lives next door. They form both a partnership and a friendship that Boone leans on more and more. Gamaliel's sudden illness leaves Boone no one to talk to about his fumbling attempts to start a relationship with Nancy, a classmate of his before Boone dropped out of school completely.Boone finds himself at odds with Gamaliel's son-in-law, Jerry, who takes an immediate dislike to Boone. Gamaliel's daughter, Carrie, grows to count on Boone to take care of her father and, after Gamaliel's hospitalization, his house.Boone has to contend with the loss of his family, his awakening feelings for Nancy, Jerry's attempts to get rid of him, the local authorities who would like to see him back in school, and a couple of thieves roaming the neighborhood. Far from being a saint or even a hero, Boone manages to survive his first year on his own and develop some forgiveness for the family that abandoned him.

Pushing Back: Book One in the Boone Series

Literature & Fiction

Hartsell, Jim

Genre Fiction

House Mountain Publishing

Matching Scars: Book Two in the Boone Series

In the third book in the series, Boone has a new place to live and a little money coming in. Things are looking pretty good until he glimpses a figure at the corner of the main building where he works that looks a lot like Jerry. It turns out that his old nemesis is back, and with Jerry back in the picture and his Aunt Claire making demands on him to do something about his missing mother, things go from pretty good to complicated in what seems like the blink of an eye. When Tiny shows up at Boone's door exhausted, reeking of smoke, and asking for Boone's help in containing a wildfire on the family farm, Boone's first question is whether or not their project in the woods behind the Thompson farm had anything to do with the fire starting. That turns out not to be the case, but the discovery of a dead body in the scorched woods calls up memories Boone had hoped were successfully buried. Things get much worse when he realizes he knows the man who died.As things heat up with Nancy and he begins thinking more and more about the direction his life should take, Boone has to contend with Carrie's change in attitude toward him because of what happened to Jerry. Nancy's impending move out of the house causes a change in her relationship with her father, and Boone is being pushed toward one of the biggest decisions he has ever had to make. Book three ends with Boone taking a step he never would have contemplated even as recently as six months ago.

Keeping Secrets: Book Three in the Boone Series

An illustrated children's book about a boy who wants to climb a mountain with his parents. They think he's talking about the mountain they see in the distance, but he means the hill in their backyard. Children and grownups see the world in different ways.

The Boy and His Mountain

Children's Books

Este es un libro ilustrado para ni os acerca de un ni o que quiere escalar una monta a con sus papas. Ellos piensan que l est hablando de la monta a que se ve en la lejan a, pero l est hablando de un mont culo en el patio trasero de su casa. Los ni os y los adultos ven el mundo de una manera diferente.

El Ninõ y Su Montaña (Spanish Edition)

Illustrated children's book about imagination. Two youngsters visiting their grandparents hear a noise in the woods and try to guess what it might be.

The Noise in the Woods

Book Four in the series finds Boone and Frankie on the road. From his first low country boil on a Carolina beach to a face-off with three thugs in a Georgia parking lot, from an unforgettable night in New Orleans to the Beale Street acrobats and a sunset Mississippi River cruise in Memphis, Boone is constantly in unknown territory on his first venture away from home with his dog Frankie. The map his friend Melvin gave him doesn't offer much guidance, and sometimes he feels like Frankie's in charge of their trip and he's just following her lead.On his return home he sees old friends and new acquaintances in a different and sometimes disturbing light, prompting him to question many of his assumptions about how things are supposed to be. Trying to keep his feet on the ground and leave behind his Daddy's most damaging lessons once and for all, Boone realizes that the trip has changed him in ways he never expected.

Following Frankie: Book Four in the Boone Series

Illustrated children's book for the very young and caregivers to read together. A little girl visits her grandparents and finds things out of place. One by one, she puts them back where they belong, leading to a surprise from her grandparents at the end.

That Doesn't Belong Here!

Hartsell, Mr. Jim

In this fifth book in the series, Boone is restless after only a few weeks back in his hometown from his swing through the Southeast As the book begins, he and Frankie are back on the road. On his way to visit some friends he met on his last trip, Boone gets word that his sister Hannah is in trouble. He turns around, but without a job or a place to live he knows he can't be much help. On the way back he sees a small house for rent and decides to move into it, figuring there's nothing for him in his old home town anyway.Making a fresh start gives Boone a chance to become known as more than just his father's son, and meeting Molly teaches him that obstacles, whether family history or current limitations, do not have to define them. Boone begins to realize that letting go of the past becomes possible when he is creating something in the present, and that family can be much more than the one he was born into.

Choosing Family: Book Five in the Boone Series

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