"Throughout his books, [Dean] Hughes concentrates on messages of unity, truth, and love," remarked a contributor for St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, "but the primary tie which pulls all of his wor ks together is the note of hope on which they usually end." Author of nearly ninety books for young readers, Hughes is a prolific and versatile writer of nonsense poetry, historical novels, sports novels, children's stories, and young adult novels. Many o f Hughes's works for young people--Under the Same Stars, As Wide as the River, Facing the Enemy, Cornbread and Prayer, Hooper Halle r, Jenny Haller, The Writing on the Wall, Troubled Waters, and Soldier Boys--draw on his background as a Mormon. In others, he fashions books for reluctant readers which feature zany classroom situations, as in his "Nutty" books, or novels that have sports as the motivator for...