Party People

Some folks just prefer to stay home. You know them - whole families who politely decline invitations because they don't spend money on fancy clothes, don't care for "small talk". And they certainly don't dance. They're just not "party people". Meet an earnest first-grader, intent upon convincing his hill-country parents that other children are treated to a party each year on their birthday, that they invite friends, eat cake - and receive presents. Meet also his equally intent mother, who is determined not to open this can of worms, not with the 128 cousins who might start doing the same thing. Both of them step out of this luminous story that turns the concept of "good neighbors" upside down. ©2008 Donald Davis; (P)2008 August House, Inc.