Kings and Sages
by
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Ain’t it always so? When you think things is all settled, something comes along to spoil it all. I wrestled with myself for the best part of two weeks over that city school business. One day I’d talk to Lou and she’d tell me how everything was just gonna be peachy creamy. Then them boys would come along and start telling their tales and there I’d be, right back where I started from. What Be More Happy said to me that day I was down to his house seemed to win out in the end. I reckon he knowed more than them boys, for sure. I been going down to see Be More a lot more lately. Funny thing is, when I first went down to his house, I told myself it was cause he needed a friend. But I reckon things was changing. It was getting to be cause I needed a friend. Be more was a friend like I never had before. He listened to me when I talked. Not many people I knowed would do that. Lou did, but that was just cause she knowed if she didn’t act like she was listening, she wouldn’t have nobody to listen to her long tales in bed at night. Be More really listened and it made me feel important, like I was a real person.
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About the Book
On a hot summer day in Arkansas in 1953, ten-year-old Annie Marcus is intent on nothing else but scraping a tick off her skin when she receives the scare of her life. Suddenly, she is looking into the eyes of Be More Happy, an old hermit that lives deep in the woods.
Frightening stories have circulated among Annie’s ten friends for a long time about the hermit with long white hair who supposedly has no tongue, but when Annie notices his eyes are like two big, black, sad holes in his head, she ignores the mystery surrounding the old man and strikes up a conversation. As time goes on and Be More Happy begins offering gentle advice and a strong shoulder to cry on, Annie realizes that despite opposition from other children, she needs to bring Be More Happy into their circle of friends.
As the children all learn to accept others, face the tragedy of death, and understand the importance of fulfilling dreams, Be More Happy teaches them all a lifelong lesson they will never forget.
About the Author
L.S. Beck grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. After a twelve-year absence, she and her husband have now returned to Arkansas to raise their four children in the peace and security of the rural south. This is her first novel.