Daniel Babka

If you’re somewhere between 10 and 100, Lightning Strikes will speak to you. Set in a small, blue-collar Ohio town in the 1950’s, it’s the story of 12-year old Ben, his Grandpa George, his dad, and Wally, the black man who works in the tavern they own. Ben’s friend, Ike, lives three miles away in the “colored” settlement. When Angelo Cosentino drives up in his Cadillac, Ben’s life changes.

Comments & Reviews

“Lightning Strikes is filled with really beautiful word pictures and wonderful descriptions of life in a small and innocent town. . .an exquisite, evocative story from a simpler, though not completely rose-colored era, captured in a young boy’s eyes.” — Jeri Chase-Ferris, author of Noah Webster & His Words, published by HoughtonMifflin/Harcourt, a 2012 Junior Library Guild fall selection and winner of the 2013 Golden Kite Award for children’s non-fiction
“I liked the story a lot. It has a wonderful feel of the heat and rain and smell of small town midwest America, and an interesting arc that goes where I didn’t expect, a plus. It’s good work.” — Lonon Smith, Author, Wise Men
“Lightning Strikes is about a child’s innocence stretched to the limit by the deeds of his family, his visions of wrong, and what is right. . .highly recommended.” — Robert Pacholik, author of Night Flares, a Vietnam short-story collection
"I’ve wanted to tell this story for a long time. Most of it is true. The editor, a former combat Marine Vietnam Veteran with PTS who always sits with his back to the wall, is retired from the literary business. I’m not going to tell you he was a dangerous man because he still is a dangerous man. He shot rats and beat them over their heads with a baseball bat when he was a kid growing up in Chicago. When we started working together, he read the first page of The Old Man and The Sea to me and slammed his hand on the kitchen table. “Hemingway nailed it. That’s what you’ve got to do. The people that read this story need to taste it, smell it, feel the heat the way they would if they put their hands in the fire. You give me anything less than that, I don’t want it.” — Daniel Babka

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Purchase at Amazon	If you’re somewhere between 10 and 100, Lightning Strikes will speak to you. Set in a small, blue-collar Ohio town in the 1950’s, it’s the story of 12-year old Ben, his Grandpa George, his dad, and Wally, the black man who works in the tavern they own. Ben’s friend, Ike, lives three miles away in the “colored” settlement. When Angelo Cosentino drives up in his Cadillac, Ben’s life changes. Comments & Reviews “Lightning Strikes is filled with really beautiful word pictures and wonderful descriptions of life in a small and innocent town. . .an exquisite, evocative story from a simpler, though not completely rose-colored era, captured in a young boy’s eyes.” — Jeri Chase-Ferris, author of Noah Webster & His Words, published by HoughtonMifflin/Harcourt, a 2012 Junior Library Guild fall selection and winner of the 2013 Golden Kite Award for children’s non-fiction “I liked the story a lot. It has a wonderful feel of the heat and rain and smell of small town midwest America, and an interesting arc that goes where I didn’t expect, a plus. It’s good work.” — Lonon Smith, Author, Wise Men “Lightning Strikes is about a child’s innocence stretched to the limit by the deeds of his family, his visions of wrong, and what is right. . .highly recommended.” — *Robert Pacholik, author of Night Flares, a Vietnam short-story collection* "I’ve wanted to tell this story for a long time. Most of it is true. The editor, a former combat Marine Vietnam Veteran with PTS who always sits with his back to the wall, is retired from the literary business. I’m not going to tell you he was a dangerous man because he still is a dangerous man. He shot rats and beat them over their heads with a baseball bat when he was a kid growing up in Chicago. When we started working together, he read the first page of The Old Man and The Sea to me and slammed his hand on the kitchen table. “Hemingway nailed it. That’s what you’ve got to do. The people that read this story need to taste it, smell it, feel the heat the way they would if they put their hands in the fire. You give me anything less than that, I don’t want it.” — Daniel Babka

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