Roving the lonesome highways in search of fresh baseball talent in 1942, New York Yankees scout Mac "Suitcase" Sefton discovers a once-in-a-lifetime talent in Jerry Yamada. The young left-handed pitcher seems poised to take his place among the pantheon of major league pitching greats. However, he's being held indefinitely in a Japanese American internment camp, and he's not even certain that he wants to play professional baseball. Caught behind barbed wire in a camp in Arizona, Jerry, his lovely sister, Annie, and their old-world parents make the best of their confinement while Sefton schemes to find a way to free Yamada and convince him to play for the Yanks. Sefton's interest in Yamada and his family changes from professional to personal when he accepts an offer to join the Yamadas for tea in their primitive quarters in a converted army barrack. Sefton's respect for their strength and the values they hold dear develops and deepens as he begins to see how his own lifestyle contrasts with the Yamadas’. A profound change takes place in him as he discusses freedom and the future with Annie. As a result, the relationships between the scout and the Japanese American family strain and strengthen as they share their cultures and lives. Amid baseball, racism, and hope, Sefton and the Yamadas rediscover the American dream.

Leslie W. Quirk's 'The Boy Scouts of Lakeville High' is a riveting coming-of-age novel that follows the adventures of a group of young boys as they navigate the challenges of adolescence and the exciting world of scouting. The book is written in a straightforward and engaging style, reminiscent of classic adventure novels, with vivid descriptions of the natural landscapes that serve as the backdrop for the boys' escapades. Quirk seamlessly weaves themes of friendship, loyalty, and self-discovery throughout the narrative, making it a compelling read for both young adults and adult readers alike. Set against the backdrop of a small town in the early 20th century, 'The Boy Scouts of Lakeville High' provides a glimpse into a bygone era while exploring universal truths about growing up and finding one's place in the world. Leslie W. Quirk's own experiences as a Boy Scout likely inspired this timeless tale of camaraderie and resilience, making it a must-read for anyone seeking a heartfelt and nostalgic adventure story.

"Boy Woodburn" is a novel about steeplechase racing and horse training in turn of the century England. This book provides interesting insight into the horse racing world at that time, with local characters and dialects. The author, Alfred Ollivant, was interested in horse racing, so the book contains many interesting details about dogs and horses.

Shakespeare's Boys: A Cultural History offers the first extensive exploration of boy characters in Shakespeare's plays, examining a range of characters from across the Shakespearean canon in their original early modern contexts and surveying their subsequent performance histories on stage and screen from the Restoration until the present day.

'One of the all-time great memoirs' Daily Telegraph 'Wonderful...candid, shrewd and moving' William Boyd 'Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious' Simon Schama Howard Jacobson's funny, revealing and tender memoir of his path to becoming a writer. Howard Jacobson was forty when his first novel was published. In Mother's Boy, he traces the life that brought him there. Born into a working-class Jewish family in 1940s Manchester, he did not lack encouragement or subject matter. Jacobson takes us from childhood and studying at Cambridge, through landing in Sydney as a maverick young professor, and on to his first marriage and the birth of his son. Later, he begins new - and often surprising - ventures in places as disparate as London, Wolverhampton, Boscastle and Melbourne. Infused with bittersweet memories of Jacobson's parents and friends, this is the story of a writer's beginnings, and of learning to understand who you are before you can become the writer you were meant to be. 'Hilariously brilliant' David Baddiel 'Howard Jacobson brilliantly transforms calamity into rip-roaring comedy' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday