Books with author Dean T. Hughes

Like most kids, Brad loves baseball. He wants to be a star player like his best friend, Butter. But it turns out that he's almost the worst player on his entire team. The other kids make fun of him, and his dad seems disappointed in him. Now it's up to Brad to come through in the big game -- and the pressure is on! Will he strike out...or become a home-run hero? Kids will love this funny, true-to-life tale of friendship by the author of the popular Angel Park All-Stars series.

This powerful middle-grade novel about a young basketball hopeful and his alcoholic father is sports fiction at its unforgettable best. Danny, ten, dreams of being a basketball star. He takes the game seriously, practicing and playing as much as he can. He also dreams of the day when his father, a mechanic with endless stories of his own high school basketball stardom, will acknowledge Danny's hard work with some words of love and praise. But it never happens. Though Danny's efforts finally pay off and he becomes a skilled player, his struggle to win his father's love seems hopeless...Here is a heart-felt book about sports, alcoholism, and hard-won family love that delivers an encouraging message and packs a tremendous emotional punch.

In this gripping and eye-opening novel, two Syrian refugee teens trying to make a living on the street corners of Beirut must decide how far they’re willing to go to make a home for their family in an unwelcoming country.Thirteen-year-old Hadi Toma and his family are displaced. At least that’s what the Lebanese government calls them and the thousands of other Syrian refugees that have flooded into Beirut. But as Hadi tries to earn money to feed his family by selling gum on the street corner, he learns that many people who travel the city don’t think they’re displaced—they think that they don’t belong in this country either. Each day he hears insults, but each day he convinces himself they don’t matter, approaching the cars again and again. He hardly dares to dream anymore that this might change. But then Hadi meets Malek, who has been instructed to work on the same corner. Malek, who talks about going to school and becoming an engineer. But Malek is new to the streets, and Kamal, the man who oversees many of the local street vendors, tells Malek he must work the corner…alone. And people who don’t follow Kamal’s orders don’t last long. Now Hadi is forced to make a choice between engaging in illegal activities or letting his family starve. Can the boys find a way out of their impossible situation, or will the dream of something greater than their harsh realities remain stubbornly out of reach?

Looking for some real heroes for your children? This book is full of them: men and women from the early days of the Church who stayed strong through enormous trials and witnessed incredible miracles. Watch Church history come alive for your family as you share these inspiring experiences, some from prophets and Church leaders, others from Saints whose stories are less well known but just as exciting. A marvelous resource book for home evenings and children's talks, Great Stories from Mormon History is a classic you and your children will return to again and again.