THE GOLDEN CHAIR

The Elsevier Southwest Literary Award, this is more Southwest than Literary, but a friendly, family story of a by no means idle summer when another little pitcher (The Go Between, The Plum Thicket, and The Harvard Tree- of this issue) is all ears, eyes, nose, and finally over his head in the romantic affairs of his cousin Bud and Honey Lou. And his grandfather, grandmother, uncles Buck and Handy, aunt Opal, and co-conspirator- cousin Christine, all provide an ample, affectionate home base for Sidney Hale, 12. His grandfather is persuaded to give up the farm and move to town where he buys a grocery store for Bud, a gas victim of World War I from which he has just returned. Bud, hospitalized for a time, leaves Honey Lou free and her eye wanders toward handsome Marvin Keller. The youngsters, to protect Bud's interests, work up a romance between Marvin and Maizie Bain, a waitress, but it gets out of hand when Maizie, pregnant, wants $100 down and more to come. Maizie's demands are silenced; Bud returns to take over the store and Honey Lou;and the end of summer brings a happier turn of affairs for all- even Marvin and Maizie.... Real rural.