The Baptism

When you turn twelve in Occoneechee Neck in Jackson, North Carolina, everything changes. You get to do stuff you couldn't do when you were eleven. And it means it's time to get baptized.

Twin brothers Leon and Luke Curry turned twelve last month. Ma has given them one week in which to do right — to cleanse themselves of their sinning ways and get themselves ready for the baptism. Next Sunday they will go down to the "mornin' bench" at church, sit in front of Reverend Webb, and be saved. It will be a glorious day. But that's only if Twin Leon and Twin Luke can keep themselves out of trouble. Which is easier said than done when you've lost your daddy and have a new stepfather; when you have a bullying big brother who plays tricks on you; and when it's summertime and all you want to do is go fishing instead of working in the fields.

How Twin Leon and Twin Luke stick together to face the odds as only twelve-year-old boys can do, managing to save themselves while also unexpectedly saving their entire family in a week's time, is the heart of this moving, often funny, and often poignant novel.

"Moses (The Legend of Buddy Bush) crafts a poignant and memorable voice in that of 12-year-old narrator Leon Curry, through his humorous observations about family, race and paternity in the tiny North Carolina community of Occoneechee Neck in Jackson. During the week leading up to his baptism, Leon feels ambivalent about whether he can or really wants to surrender lying and sinning for salvation — especially as his twin brother, Luke, is 'Mr. Goody Two-Shoes most of the time,' and, a year past being 'saved,' his big brother, whom the twins call Joe Nasty, remains 'just as mean as a rattlesnake.' Plus, Leon says, 'I am going to miss sinning some kind of bad. Sinning is the main reason I get out of bed in the morning.' But he tries for his Mama's sake, despite missing his dad ('a good man with bad luck,' killed by 'white trash' Mr. Pollard, who owed Leon's father 15 dollars). and resenting his lazy, dishonest stepfather ('Ma is so smart about everything but Filthy Frank,' he says). He defines the immutable rule of the town as 'you can't mess with these fine white folks and get away with it,' and their white landlord won't acknowledge that he and Leon's mother share the same father. Readers will utterly believe Leon's precociousness and likely savor his gentle gaffes, such as describing his gossipy cousin as 'nothing but an ease dropper.' Ultimately, during this combustible week, various tensions bubbling below the surface of the Southern niceties erupt and, although Leon's family almost loses everything, the power of love and family ties proves truly transformational. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The author of the National Book Award finalist "The Legend of Buddy Bush" returns with this heartwarming novel about 12-year-old twin brothers who manage to save themselves while also unexpectedly saving their entire family in a week's time.

Poet, author, playwright, and producer Shelia P. Moses was raised the ninth of ten children on Rehobeth Road in Rich Square, North Carolina. She is the co-author of Dick Gregory's memoir, Callus on My Soul, as well as the award-winning author of several books for young readers: The Legend of Buddy Bush; The Return of Buddy Bush; I, Dred Scott: A Fictional Slave Narrative Based on the Life and Legal Precedent of Dred Scott;  and The Baptism. Shelia lives in Atlanta, Georgia.