Another Hung Jury, Mudville, and a Good Weekend

Whoa. What are the chances of this happening again?? We set up a poll for you to vote on the guilt or innocence of Evil Ell...I mean, the accused Ellen. You remember that she stood accused of the heinous crime of putting a princess book in the Sacred Shrine of Guyhood (our Boys Read book display). We held a fair and impartial trial in the Cosmic Court of Justice but ended up with a hung jury (which means they couldn't decide), so we put it out there for you to decide. Well, the time was up at 4 pm today. At 3 pm the votes were going against Darth Bill. Then somehow, I don't know how, there were 6 votes in one hour that said the Carlman did it, which made it exactly 11 votes against Darth Bill and 11 votes against the Carlman!!!! What a coincidence!!!! Never in all the eons of the galaxy has the Carlman seen such a coincidence. Now some might say that it was a sith plot to throw suspicion off Darth Bill, but I say it is just an amazing alignment of the stars and planets. That means, of course, that we have another hung jury and we must declare Ellen INNOCENT. There--once again you have an example of the great fairness and justice of BOYS.

Now that we've got that settled, I can tell you about Mudville, the new book by first-time author Kurtis Scaletta. 12-year-Roy McGuire lives in Moundville, loves baseball, but has never played a game in his hometown. Why? Because it's been raining there for the last 22 years!! Yep, 22 years. It all started when Roy's dad was playing for the Moundville team against their old rivals, the Sinister Bend team. Moundville had never won against the other team but, when rain clouds started moving in, Roy's dad saw that they could keep Moundville from losing if he could delay the game until it rained, when the game would be called off. So the rain came, the game was called off--and it kept raining for 22 years!! What would happen if the rain stopped? Could Roy and his friends finish the game his postponed?? You gotta read it to find out!! And the ending--knowing what happens at the end, would YOU do the same thing Roy did? Don't know what I'm talking about? Then you gotta read to find out!!

BTW, Mr. Scaletta is writing more books. Read an interview with him here. I'm glad Mudville won't be his last book!

I'm off until Monday. I've got The Sword Thief, the latest 39 Clues with me, plus The City of Ember, and James and the Giant Peach. PLUS--the ACC basketball tournament is on TV. Carolina plays at noon tomorrow and Florida State at 2. Ahhh---good books, ACC basketball with chips and salsa!! This will be a good weekend!!

Carl