Special Book Feature & Excerpt – The Rubber Band Stretches by Christy Hoss
About the Book
Book: The Rubber Band Stretches – Rocky’s Story
Author: Christy Hoss
Genre: Middle Grade Novel
Release date: May, 2021
Foster kid Rocky “Roadkill” Espinosa, drummer for the Rubber Band, chooses Elvis for his 4th grade living biography report. With little money to create a costume, Rocky believes he’ll be the worst Elvis impersonation ever, destined to fail.
When his ex-con father Eduardo, sneaks into his life demanding attention, Rocky’s best friend and lead guitar for the band, Eddie, comes to his rescue. Eddie involves the entire band in Rocky’s protection to be “secret service” and comedic chaos erupts.
After the Rubber Band performs its first set at the mayor’s 50th birthday party, Rocky mysteriously disappears. The band realizes it’s no longer about fun and games. Friends and family are what matter most in life. The bond of the band demands that secrets be revealed. Will friends, foster or blood family win the battle for Rocky’s future?
BOOK EXCERPT
“Yeah, how could she say we’re doing something that really we aren’t?” Manny adds, crunching a pretzel.
“We’ve called her bossy since kindergarten. She’s accepted it by her nickname in the band, and now she’s no longer in denial.” Oliver makes his point with a pretzel stick.
“Her bragging is going to get us in trouble since we aren’t playing for the mayor’s party, yet. Dad is going to look into it today, and we won’t know anything until we get home.” Eddie reaches for a pretzel stick, but Oliver swats at his hand.
“Eat your raisins.”
Eddie grabs a pretzel stick despite Oliver’s objection. “How dare you challenge me, peasant. En Garde!”
Challenge accepted, Oliver points his pretzel stick at Eddie, and they sword fight until Oliver’s pretzel stick breaks, scattering specks of salt and crumbs all over the table.
Eddie chomps his pretzel in victory.
“If you don’t brush the crumbs off our table, we’ll have more poop splats on it tomorrow.” Manny has a point. “I wonder what Becca is up to?” He points to Becca out in the back field, surrounded by a circle of mesmerized girls.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christy caught the writing bug in second grade after winning a prize for a five-page story about her dog, Noodles. Mrs. Olson told her she was destined to be a writer and that dream never left her thoughts. After teaching elementary school for fifteen years, Christy fulfilled her childhood dream with her debut novel, The Rubber Band. She substitute
teaches to support her writing career, deriving writing inspiration from the students and situations she encounters.
At age twenty-five, she was diagnosed with type-one diabetes but refuses to let it limit her. Her diabetic alert dog, Aiden, has saved her life uncountable times and will appear in future installments of The Rubber Band. Christy lives by this equation: Living + diabetes = LIVE-abetes. Christy is a freelance editor and writes children’s Bible stories for Focus on the Family ClubHouse magazine and has written articles for Guideposts. She is a featured speaker for conferences, retreats and special events. Christy lives in Northern California with Kevin, the love of her life. They have three grown children. The Rubber Band Stretches, Rocky’s Story is the second book in The Rubber Band middle grade novel series by Christy Hoss.
