DAYS OF LITTLE TEXAS
R. A. Nelson
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Fiction
ISBN: 9780375855931
400 pages

Little Ronald Earl Pettway’s childhood was a harrowing tale that would bring anyone to tears, but it was all part of God’s Will to lead him to his fiery anointing as a disciple and preacher of God’s Word. People have lined up to hear his blistering preaching and see his miraculous healing since he was only 10 years old and reborn by the Holy Spirit in Texas --- Little Texas. Now at 16, Little Texas is facing adolescence and some nagging doubt about whether or not he’s still cut out to fight the wicked and injustice of the world.

At a usual tent revival of The Church of the Hand, people are led forward by Miss Wanda Joy, Little Texas’s aunt and head of the whole operation, to be healed by Little Texas. After sore hips and bad back problems are healed, a family pleads with him to heal their daughter Lucy, a girl in a blue dress who is in agonizing pain. Little Texas fumbles, however, and while he does place his hands on her, the whole situation just doesn’t feel right. He turns to his mentor, 87-year-old Sugar Tom, for help. Sugar Tom and Certain Certain, a South Carolina slave descendant, tell Little Texas not to fret and remind him that he has been chosen by God to spread His Word.

The show must go on. The Church of the Hand continues their tent revival in the South, and people continue to come to hear the amazing preaching of Little Texas --- especially a girl in blue. At first Little Texas is relieved to see Lucy healed from her malady, but when she starts popping up in his dreams, he questions his sanity and falters in his preaching. After one particular revival meeting gone bad, Miss Wanda Joy presents Little Texas with the ultimate preaching challenge: Devil Hill. Located on an old Southern plantation, Devil Hill is home to the legendary ill-fated revival where it is rumored that evil itself swept over the meeting and gobbled up the last preacher.

To make matters worse, Lucy is now a ghostly form that continually haunts Little Texas when he is awake. Somehow she is connected to the evil presence on Devil Hill and will stop at nothing until he confronts what lies in the dark. As people travel to hear Little Texas one more time, will he be able to be God’s chosen instrument, or will he give in to his biggest fear --- that he’s a fraud?

I’ve never personally been to a revival, but R.A. Nelson provides numerous excellent examples of the preaching that help you understand how it can captivate an audience: “The dead in Christ shall rise, ah! Take His hand, ah! No man knoweth when his time cometh, ah! I say no man knoweth, ah! And those who do not repent, ah! shall be cast into the lake of everlasting fire, ah!”

Some people may also question the motivation behind some revivals as strictly monetary gain, but you never get that sense from Little Texas. He is the real deal and truly believes he was born to preach and bring others to the Word. It is what makes him such an endearing character. The fire and brimstone preaching and the thrilling ghostly encounters make DAYS OF LITTLE TEXAS a gripping page-turner.

   --- Reviewed by Benjamin Boche (bennyboche@hotmail.com)

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