By Jenny Shank (MEngl’00)

(The Permanent Press, 2011; 304 pages) ISBN: 9781579622145–Amazon

In The Ringer, Jenny Shank (MEngl’00) writes a captivating novel of heart-warming characters we can relate to. After a police officer in Denver raids a wrong address and mistakenly shoots and kills a Mexican immigrant, both his family and the family of the killed are affected in devastating ways. As the city begins to take sides in the killing, the grieving families focus on baseball, which boys from both families play competitively. Eventually they learn that the boys play on competing teams, interconnecting the culturally-diverse families in deep and surprising ways. The Ringer is a story about facing personal demons, dealing with pain and anger and, ultimately, finding common ground with enemies.