The Children of a King: Ridgecrest, Summer of 1950 follows eighteen-year-old Cordel Whitman as he leaves home for the first time. Hoping to do something different and worthwhile, he spends three months working on the summer staff of Ridgecrest, a large Christian conference center in the North Carolina mountains. He makes many friends (some of them lifelong friends) among the 330 college students who work with him, and also among others at Ridgecrest especially a lonely, troubled little boy. Cordel hears about the ominous outbreak of war in Korea. He experiences the sting of false accusations and the sadness of a fatal accident. Author Perry Thomas, who spent several summers of his youth working at Ridgecrest and similar places, has woven together his own memories and the recollections of other former summer staffers to create the gripping story of Cordel Whitman. As young adults of today read about the lives of youth many decades ago, they will recognize striking similarities and discover significant differences. All who can look back on their own histories, finding times in their younger years when events conspired to move them along the path to maturity, will welcome The Children of a King as a story that entertains while it inspires.