ROLLER - A Dirt Road Sport

About the book

Roller's appearance and personality seem to be in perfect harmony. His clear green eyes punctuate an air of innocence, yet they sparkle with just a hint of mischief. The South Georgia sun has freckled his young complexion, and he glows with an outdoorsy nature. Sunset-gold curls frame a forehead that unconsciously wrinkles with expression when he speaks. He is not very handsome, he is wholesome, and most people are drawn to him by his pleasing smile and country-boy candor.

Roller has never met a stranger and has a welcoming deportment to all. If Norman Rockwell had been asked to paint a picture of the son of Mother Nature, Roller would have been his perfect mode.

Although just a boy at the beginning of this novel, Roller already is smart in getting what he wants ~ whether that be killing a hawk that preys on his father's animals, getting even with a bully, or fighting with an older and stronger brother. In this year between boyhood and manhood, he learns from the discipline of a strong mother, still more from a father trying to keep the family financially healthy during a drought.

And in his numerous adventures during this crucial year, he is helped ~ and guided ~ by Cooper, a black man of gentle wisdom who understands the ways of youngsters struggling toward manhood.

In Roller, Julian Morgan has brilliantly recaptured boyhood in rural Georgia in the early 1950's.