A Painted House -
This surprisingly different novel from John Grisham is near perfect. Grisham captures perfectly the voice and view of his protagonist, a young boy. Grisham successfully enmeshes many other characters into the story whose personalities are real and whose presence adds layers of wonderful tension to the story.

I read this book to my two teenage sons who also loved it. The story, compassionate and sometimes tense, is told with much humor and tenderness. There is little to no profanity. I heartily recommend it. Men and boys will probably relate best to the story. I put it in the same league as "To Kill a Mockingbird"