Never So Green [Hardcover]

Tim Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2002

School's out in Big River, Iowa, and Tex Donleavy, a kid who keeps his nose in the books and his deformed right hand deep in his pocket, is looking forward to a blissful summer in the company of Linda Volesky, the vivacious beauty who happens to be his father's girlfriend. Instead, Tex gets dumped on his mother's doorstep, where Farley Dickerson, the big oaf she's just married, and his two kids have made themselves at home. Nobody's more surprised than Tex, then, when he discovers he likes his new stepfather, that he actually wants to spend the summer at Mom's, and that he - Tex Donleavy - is going to play ball on Farley's Little League team. And then there's the plucky and brooding Jack, Farley's daughter, who becomes Tex's closest ally, as well as his greatest source of confusion. In all, it's shaping up to be a summer full of surprises - though nothing can prepare Tex for the biggest surprise of all, a secret so terrible that it will change the lives of every member of his family.

Through his careful, lyrical prose, Tim Johnston expertly balances the pain of inching toward maturity with sly humor, making his fiction debut an auspicious occasion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The summer of 1974 is the best of times and the worst of times for sixth-grade graduate Tex Donleavy, who has grown up self-conscious about his deformed right hand. He discovers a new love, baseball; he also uncovers an almost unbearable secret. This impressive first novel opens as the school year ends, when Tex (who has been living with his divorced father) temporarily moves to his recently remarried mother's house. There he meets his boyish stepsister, Jack, a girl his own age who stirs up unfamiliar, confusing feelings in him. Their relationship grows increasingly complicated after Tex receives something Jack has always wanted-a chance to play ball on her father's boys-only Little League team. As Tex starts to feel comfortable with his new family and gains self-esteem through his newfound athletic prowess, his world begins to look as "green" as a baseball diamond. Then he witnesses a shocking act of sexual abuse that dramatically alters his view of his stepfather and stepsister. This hard-hitting tale candidly addresses once-taboo issues in a manner relevant to adolescents. Rather than preaching a moral lesson, Johnston raises provocative questions about family loyalty and the distinctions made between lust, love and endangerment. At the same time, his third-person narration gives Tex a distinctive, wry voice (e.g., Tex describes classmate Melanie Bloom as "a nice, shy, freckled girl who just that spring had undergone the promise of her name"). Although the subject matter is disturbing, it is handled well, and readers will experience cathartic relief as the novel reaches its conclusion. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9-It is summer in the early 1970s in Big River, IA, and 12-year-old Tex Donleavy thinks he's going to spend it reading books and spying on his dad's young, sexy girlfriend. Instead, he ends up living nearby with his mom; her new baseball-loving husband, Farley; and a stepsister named Jack, who is a first-rate ballplayer but as a girl is forbidden to play on Farley's Little League team. She and her dad help Tex get over his self-consciousness about his withered right hand and transform him into a pitcher who helps the team win the pennant. Off the diamond, the summer also teaches Tex about sex in all its healthy and unhealthy forms. Tex is disturbed by his strong attraction to Jack, then sickened when he discovers that Farley has been molesting her for years. With his father's help, the boy ultimately confronts Farley, as well as his own feelings of betrayal and sexual awakening. The novel ends with a certain feeling of hopelessness on the part of Farley, but Jack shows her spunk and will to survive, and Tex comes to terms, at least temporarily, with his feelings for her. Johnston has written a very mature novel about kids being forced to deal with adult problems. He handles these themes with deftness and control. Sometimes the baseball scenes are overly jargoned, and there are times that the book seems fixated on sex. But then, many adolescent boys are, too. All in all, this powerful novel approaches tough themes, and doesn't give away any easy answers.
Linda Bindner, formerly at Truman State University, Kirksville, MO
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (October 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374355096
• ISBN-13: 978-0374355098
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,054,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tim was born in Iowa City, Iowa, just down the road from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, where, a few years later, he learned a thing or two about writing from the program's graduate students. For his own MFA he attended the Creative Writing Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and when he was done with that he became a carpenter.

He was working as a carpenter in Hollywood, California, living above a mechanic's garage on the corner of Hollywood & Gower, when his first book, NEVER SO GREEN, was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Subsequently, Tim went on to work as a carpenter in such states as Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Iowa, Minnesota, and New Mexico. In the meantime, his fiction was showing up in quarterlies and magazines and anthologies, including the O. Henry Prize Stories and the David Sedaris anthology of favorites, CHILDREN PLAYING BEFORE A STATUE OF HERCULES.

In 2008-2009, Tim's stories won national contets, and his collection, IRISH GIRL, won the Katerine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction.

Tim is currently living in New Mexico, working on his new novel.

He is still a carpenter.

For more, please go to timjohnston.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not necessarily a boy's book, November 26, 2002

By 

Matthew S. Clark (Boston, MA U?SA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never So Green (Hardcover)

I am a fifth grade teacher and am always on the lookout for new books to challenge students. I picked up this novel and looked at the jacket. It seemed innocent enough for a fifth grader. Upon reading it I felt that the subject matter was far to advanced for my classroom. I believe that the seventh grade might be a better spot for this novel.

The book itself was very engaging. The author uses baseball as a venue for healing. I think that Mr. Johnson has quite a future ahead of him.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An elegant and haunting depiction of adolescence!, December 18, 2002

By 

Bill Pope (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never So Green (Hardcover)

This is an elegant and haunting depiction of adolescence. I came across this book while browsing... and was stuck by its cover. I expected a lighthearted book about little league baseball. I discovered something much greater. This story and these characters have strayed with me for weeks. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Johnston's work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic, involving fiction, December 14, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never So Green (Hardcover)

Tex gets something quite different for the summer when instead of spending the time with his father and his new girlfriend, he lands in the lap of his mother and her new family. Tex's friendship with his new stepfather is uncertain, until a common connection in baseball introduces him to a new world and brings new family ties. Just as all seems to be coming together, Tex makes a discovery which will again change his family's life. Realistic, involving fiction.