Calling Out Your Name - Softcover

White, Ned

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1442132426 ISBN 13: 9781442132429

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009

Synopsis

New 2nd Edition of this award-winning novel just published, March 2016. Includes new material and improved book design.
For 16 year-old Woody Elmont, life in rural Georgia is a tolerable routine of caring for his aging Aunt Zee and minding his developmentally disabled younger brother, Tick. But when Tick disappears from a nearby home for troubled youth, Woody sets off on a grand and improbable adventure to know the truth of his brother's fate. Risking his life for duty's sake, Woody discovers far more truth than he bargained for.CALLING OUT YOUR NAME is a headlong rush through characters and events both intriguing and menacing - a coming-of-age journey that is by turns inspiring and starkly compelling.

About this title

From the Author:

Calling Out Your Name (originally published 2009, and a 2nd edition 2016)is a young adult (YA) novel set in the Deep South sometime inthe recent past - an unnamed period after civil rights laws were enacted butbefore the modern era of cell phones and video games.  It's the story of Woody Elmont, 16, and his struggles tocare for, and later rescue, his younger brother Tick, who is moderatelydevelopmentally disabled.  It'svery much an adventure story that covers a lot of real estate - both dramaticand geographical.  It was writtenfor young people age 12 to 18, but it's been especially well received by adults,and has been honored with several awards.

When my wife and I lived in Georgia for some 10 years, we traveled all over the state sampling variations in regional culture, voices, and accents. In time, I'd tuned my ear to the music of their speech, and decided I would create a teenage boy from rural south Georgia as my first-person voice and protagonist. In this regard, Calling Out Your Name is unlike any other writing I've done, and I'm glad that various friends who are native southerners proclaimed Woody to be the real thing in how he spoke and acted.

Without giving too much away, I was inspired by Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to tell the story of journey - across many miles and through many challenging circumstances - that absolutely compels my hero to grow up, and in a hurry. "The Journey," and being on the road, are familiar themes in my work; I myself (and my wife) have been veterans of many long road trips, off the usual beaten paths of major highways.

Notes on the 2016 2nd Edition: I was never quite satisfied with the book in its first iteration. The first problem was the number of typos that escaped several reviews by myself and my proofreader. Second, the interior book design didn't feel professional enough. Lastly,  I felt it needed some new material to help establish and anchor my hero's psychological state. This material now appears in a brief prologue and epilogue.

From the Back Cover:

A headlong rush to adulthood...For 16 year-old Woody Elmont, life in Ogamesh, Georgia is a tolerable routine of caring for his aging Aunt Zee and minding his developmentally disabled brother, Tick. But when Tick disappears from a nearby home for troubled youth, Woody sets off on a grand adventure to know the truth of his brother's fate. Risking his life for duty's sake, Woody discovers far more truth than he bargained for...Calling Out Your Name is a headlong rush through characters both intriguing and menacing - a coming of age journey that is by turns inspiring and starkly compelling.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1442132426
• ISBN 13: 9781442132429
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 225