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The Old Rugged Cross-Eyed Bear

by Wes Sumpter

105 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-2737; ISBN 1-4120-7839-3; US$17.50, C$20.13, EUR14.38, £10.06

This is a story about a mostly loveable bunch of twelve-year-olds as they fish and swim their way through the Great Depression. Some pathos, but mostly humor.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

The book starts on a May day in 1939 as several twelve-year-old friends are headed to their favorite swimming hole on the Solomon River near the town of Downs, Kansas. A problem develops for them as they seem to cross swords with a W.W.1 wounded veteran tending his goats.

The story continues and they find various ways to earn money by catching crawdads, and they observe a "raid" by the State officials on a bootlegger's house.

They have a meeting with the "restless spirit" of a disturbed Indian warrior. These kids don't realize that they are in a "depression," because almost everybody they know is in the same situation except for a few people who "have money."

Quite a lot of the book is devoted to their school experience with outstanding and devoted teachers, and T.Y.S. (Twelve Year Syndrome) begins to affect them. These kids mostly have a happy time, but are awakened to grief with the loss of a good friend.

The end of the story has these same kids going down the same road a year later. They have learned a lot in one year, and they are saddened when "Billy Goat" is not there anymore. They had found out that he was a friend.

How wise we are when Chance is gone, And a glance we backward cast. We know just the thing that we should have done, When the time for doing is past.

Book Reviews

"Being in the entertainment industry for over five decades, wanna-bees come up to me in lobbies, streets, parties, restrooms, and say, "There's this story that ought to be done." But hardly ever does it get "done".

Wes Sumpter has done it! Wes has written a wonderful memoir that all talk about, but never get to doing. I so know the reader of "The Old Rugged Cross-Eyed Bear" will fondly recall their own "rites of passage" story that "ought to be done". Wes has done it and done it well! Enjoy his laughs, his tears, and all your emotions in between. More, more, Wes, a Superior Icon!!

Dr. Lew Hunter, UCLA Screenwriting Professor, author and screenwriter Superior, Nebraska

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About the Author

Born January 24th, 1928 in Kansas and lived in Kansas until I was five years old when we moved to Colorado. We moved back to Kansas in 1938 when I was ten years old. I attended Downs, Kansas's schools and joined the U.S. Navy after graduation. Served in the end of WW II in a Battleship and Heavy Cruisers. I attended Fort Hays for two years, and reenlisted in the Navy in the Korean War. I served five years mostly on aircraft carriers. I married Carolyn Junk on July 2, 1951. I received a B.S. Degree at Fort Hays in 1957, and a M.A Degree at Kearney State (Nebraska) in 1985. Taught school in Kansas, California and Nebraska for thirty-three years, and coached football and wrestling. Retired from teaching and the Nebraska National Guard in 1990. I have fourteen grandchildren.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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