The main character in Stumptown Kid is a 11 year old boy soon to be 12 named Charlie Nebraska that lives in Holden, Iowa and baseball is pretty much his life. When he was young his father was killed in the war. There were times when he tries to deny that his father is dead. Charlie thought he wasn't dead because when the army sent back his father's casket, his mother didn't open and Charlie thought that meant that it wasn’t his father. He would always think that one day his father would come back to his house and Charlie would have a normal life with his whole family. That tells you that he doesn’t like to accept things that he thinks aren’t true. Even though that it seems like Charlie is depressed because of his dad, he's actually a very friendly, generous, and caring person. For example, when Charlie tried out for the Wildcats, his friend Will did to and when Charlie found out that he didn't make the team but Will did, he was happy for him and congratulated him instead of being jealous. That shows that Charlie cares about his friends and is a generous person. It might seem that Charlie is all nice and that he wouldn’t be able to stand up for himself, but he isn't the kind of person that would back down from a challenge and he is a stubborn kid that doesn't really listen or do what other people tell him to. Like when Charlie and his friends were playing baseball, Lobo a kid that was on the Wildcats, started yelling loud remarks about Charlie. Charlie's friends tried to tell him not to listen and block it out of his head, but he didn't listen and lost control and jumped at Lobo and started hitting him which gave Lobo a bloody nose. Charlie had always loved to play baseball. Charlie plays baseball for the love of the game, not to win or try to beat somebody. Win or lose he would be glad that he got to play. In baseball, Charlie wanted to be the best. He was always trying to get better whenever he could.
His mom is a sweet and caring person that loves Charlie more than anything, and Charlie loves her just as much. For Charlie, baseball is everything. He doesn't play to compete he plays for the love of the game. He plays pitcher and is very good. Except when he tries out for the Wildcats (a 12 year old team he had wanted to be on forever) he gets nervous and angry because Lobo is yelling rude and distracting remarks at him so he can't concentrate.
There were lots of confllicts in the book, but I think that the biggest one had to do with Luther Peale. Throughout the book Luther helps Charlie with baseball and his personal life and Charlie also helps Luther. One very important conflict that happened was when Ruckus Brody came to Iowa to kill Luther. The reason is because before he went to Iowa, Luther played baseball for an all negro leauge and when he was pitching against an all white team, a drunk player named Sam Brody came up to bat and his head was over the base. When Luther pitched it hit Sam's head and he died instantly. Everybody knew it was good pitch and wasn't Luthers fault but Sam's brother who was on the team told Luther that he was going to kill him no matter what to avenge his brothers death. Later after Luther had been in Iowa for a while, he found out that Ruckus Brody (the brother of Sam Brody) was coming to Iowa to find Luther and kill him. As soon as Charlie found out about this he went to Luther and told him that he needed to get a weapon of some kind, but Luther said he didn't know and he would think about it. After that because Charlie was so worried about Luther he went back to his house and took his fathers bayonet from the war and went to find Luther. Charlie found out that Ruckus Brody was asking around for Luther and was told that the owner of the apartment that Luther was staying in had told Ruckus that Luther was working. Ruckus went to where Luther was working and almost killed if Charlie hadn't saved him by throwing a egg rack at Ruckus's head. Later the police arrested him and took him to jail so he couldn't try to kill Luther again.
