About this item
Ernie Banks, named for the legendary Chicago Cubs shortstop, is a troubled, thirteen-year-old juvenile delinquent. Abandoned on the doorstep of the Lakeside Home for Boys when he was three years old, his only proof that he once belonged to somebody is a vintage Ernie Banks baseball card, a crystal acorn he wears on a string around his neck, and a strange spiral birthmark on the bottom of his right foot.As a last reprieve before being sent to a juvenile detention facility, Ernie is allowed to spend three weeks on a working farm. When Ernie arrives at the home of Russ Frazier, he learns that the widower s baby was kidnapped years before. Ernie is determined to solve the case. He teams up with Joey, a local tomboy, to investigate clues that lead them on a dangerous journey into a forbidden world of dark secrets, magic puddles, and the cavernous underground kingdom of the Puddlejumpers eleven-inch-tall water creatures with whom Ernie has a mysterious connection.
About the Author
Mark Jean caught the filmmaking bug while attending Western Michigan University. Determined to become a director he packed a U-haul with junk furniture and a Bolex and headed west. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications & Film at San Diego State University before relocating in Los Angeles where he attended The American Film Institute on full scholarship, receiving a Masters Degree in directing.Jean won the George Foster Peabody Award for writing and directing a series of interstitials for Fox. He has directed multiple MOW's, pilots and episodic series and written several screenplays. His first novel, PUDDLEJUMPERS, was published by Hyperion Books in 2008.He directed and co-wrote the feature HOMECOMING based on the acclaimed best seller by Cynthia Voigt. The script received a WGA nomination for Best Longform Adaptation and the film, starring Anne Bancroft, took the Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival.He directed two indie features, the dark comedy, EARLY BIRD SPECIAL, and FINN ON THE FLY, a family comedy that he also co-wrote. (Best Feature Film, Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival)For producer Mel Brooks he co-wrote the historical drama, BEAST OF BATAAN.Most recently he helmed FINDING A FAMILY and DUKE, real-life dramas, for Hallmark.Jean has begun work on his second novel, another young adult fantasy-adventure.
