Authors: Sharon Creech

The Boy on the Porch (13 page)

When they heard the dog wailing the next morning, a pitiful wail that seemed to come from the hollows of his insides, they feared the worst. The dog was not in their room or in the kitchen. They found him by the front door, weakly scratching at it.

“Let him out, John, the poor thingâ”

John had barely opened the door when the dog scooted through the opening, his nails clicking and sliding on the wood. They hadn't seen him move so fast in months.

And then they saw what he was after.

There, asleep in the old cushioned chair on the porch, was a young man, and beside him was a guitar, a paint box, and a blank canvas.

He was back
.

About the Author

Author photo by Lyle Rigg

SHARON CREECH
is the author of the Newbery Medal winner
Walk Two Moons
and the Newbery Honor Book
The Wanderer
. Her other work includes the novels
The Great Unexpected, The Unfinished Angel, Hate That Cat, The Castle Corona, Replay, Heartbeat, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Ruby Holler, Love That Dog, Bloomability, Absolutely Normal Chaos, Chasing Redbird, and Pleasing the Ghost
, as well as three picture books:
A Fine, Fine School; Fishing in the Air
; and
Who's That Baby
? Ms. Creech and her husband live in Maine. You can visit her online at www.sharoncreech.com.

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Also by Sharon Creech

Walk Two Moons

Absolutely Normal Chaos

Fishing in the Air

Love That Dog

A Fine, Fine School

Ruby Holler

Granny Torrelli Makes Soup

Heartbeat

Who's That Baby
?

Replay

The Castle Corona

Hate That Cat

The Unfinished Angel

The Great Unexpected

Credits

cover design by Kate Engbring

Copyright

T
HE BOY ON THE PORCH
. Copyright Â© 2013 by Sharon Creech. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-06-189235-6 (trade bdg.) â ISBN 978-0-06-189237-0 (lib. bdg.)

EPub Edition July 2013 ISBN 9780062207777

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CG/RRDH
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