Crooked Branch was a finalist in the Christian Writer's Guild first annual Operation New Novel competition. About the book: Sherman can't help it. He's afraid. For a farm boy growing up in Oklahoma during the summer of 1953, there's plenty to be afraid of - nuclear war, tornados, the crazed milk cow lurking in the back pasture, the Ku Klux Klan, lock jaw, bank robbers, losing that big fish (again), hobos. Oh, and don't forget the big one. Hell. Sherman is very afraid of going to Hell. But mostly Sherman and his little brother Ray are afraid of their oldest brother Merle. Merle is the kind of big brother that keeps you looking over your shoulder. He's as mean as the devil himself. Sherman and Ray hate Merle. They also hate chickens, their city slicker cousins and the way their little sister practices the piano after dinner to avoid doing the dishes. They also aren't big fans of their invalid other brother Leland, who spends his time lying in bed in his underwear reading comic books and dreaming of some day being Superman and flying across the farm. Full of humorous and tragic stories including the dead rat in the piano bench, the "summer of the frogs", the attack of the always evil Mad Milk Cow, the story of how the cleaning lady at the hospital became an angel, a visit to the Landry farm by the Ku Klux Klan, a tragic train wreck, a manhunt for an escaped convict, a pathetic first date, hot chocolate drinking contests, the embarrassment of being found with pockets full of free Wildroot hair tonic samples - and more. If you liked Tom Sawyer, To Kill A Mockingbird or Lake Wobegon Days, you'll probably really enjoy this book.