Malcolm Ater

Tyler's Mountain Magic Malcolm Ater

This book is based on the true story of Tyler Moore, a teenage boy with cystic fibrosis who leads his team on the most magical sports ride in West Virginia public school history.

"No one at Harpers Ferry Junior High knew why Tyler wanted to wrestle when he had cystic fibrosis. Maybe he wanted to do something with his life while he still had time. We just knew that he loved wrestling and being a part of our team. But whenever he went to the hospital, we always expected him to come back home to Blue Ridge Mountain. We also knew that Tyler had a dream.

He always said that if we all stuck together, something would happen to our team that people would never forget. He was right about that. It was funny, because Tyler wasn't a very good wrestler, at least not in the beginning, but neither were most of us. But for three years we stuck together.

It was Tyler who helped us overcome the curse of John Brown and the constant beatings by our hated county rival, Mecklenburg Junior High. He led us through a major cheating scandal that was reported in every newspaper in the state, and all the finger-pointing that divided our county and brought our coaches to the brink of resigning. Tyler was some kind of kid.

It was that last year together that we will always remember, both the good and the bad. Certainly we went on the most magical sports ride in West Virginia public school history. But as we battled the brutal winter trying to accomplish something that had never been done before, it took something terrible to bring everyone to their senses. Along the way we learned about friendship and courage and holding on to the important things in life. More importantly, we were trying to do the impossible. We were trying to make Tyler's dream come true.

You won't see any signs in our little town honoring John Brown and his infamous raid that ignited the Civil War. But you will see a sign at the entrance to Harpers Ferry honoring a teenage boy who had a dream that ended a war in our county that had been going on forever. Call it Tyler's Mountain Magic. Unfortunately, we learned that everything comes with a price."

**TYLER'S MOUNTAIN MAGIC was selected as the 1st Place Award Winner for best book length novel in 2011 by the West Virginia Writers, Inc.**

**TYLER'S MOUNTAIN MAGIC was also selected as the 2012 Pinnacle Book Achievement Award winner in Sports.**