This nostalgic Depression-era book takes us back in time and reminds us of what it was like to have to make the choice of which of two needed items were the most needed.
Audie is saving up his money for a baseball glove. Every weekend, he helps around the farm and earns a quarter, which he saves in a cigar box, dreaming of the day when that glove will be his. Sometimes he would listen to a baseball game on the radio with his father, and his father would always say, “Maybe someday we’ll go to a game.” But with money so tight, that day just didn’t seem like it would ever come.
But early one morning, Audie’s father woke him up and they went into town on the train. Father’s work boots were falling apart and they had to buy some new ones. Besides, maybe they could catch a game while they were in town.
Audie grabbed his money and put it in an envelope. Then they headed off. Once reaching town, Father tried on some boots until he found the ones that fit. He asked the clerk to hold them until after the game. Audie, in the meantime, found just the perfect glove in the display window of a toy store, but that store was closed and they’d have to come back later.
The baseball game was wonderful, up until Audie realized that his envelope had fallen out of his pocket. He was devastated. He and his father looked everywhere, but it was gone.
Then his father did something that surprised Audie. They went to the toy store and his father used his boot money to buy Audie the glove, telling Audie that they could glue his boots back together. Late into the day, they played catch, and then they worked together to glue the boots.
This was a touching story of sacrifice. Sacrifices were far too common during the days of the Depression, but stories like this remind us that the love found in the human soul is stronger than the economy and that family ties will keep us afloat even when we have nothing else.
(This book was published in 1998 by Dial Books and was illustrated by Greg Shed.)
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