Tailgates & Bonfires

Illustration gallery

Bookbag Boy
in pictures.

Every chapter has its own moment. Browse the complete collection, then choose an illustration to return to the story behind it.

28 illustrations

Tomas, his shirt stained with cafeteria food and Red hanging from one shoulder, walking out beneath a crooked anti-bullying poster

Chapter 1

Green Hot Dogs

A worn red bookbag sitting alone on a farmhouse porch at night

Interlude

Red’s Interlude

Tomas pushing past a teacher as he leaves a school storage closet with Red while two girls watch from the hallway

Chapter 2

You Know the Rules

Tomas and Courtney outside their darkened school preparing to open a classroom window

Chapter 3

Don’t Feed the Art Work after Dark

Tomas driving a tractor and mowing a field with a line of woods close on his left

Chapter 4

Negotiations

Red sitting alone on the cracked seat of a weathered tractor beside a field and dark woods

Interlude

Red’s Interlude

Kay standing with her hands on her hips opposite Sheriff Rook in the farmyard, with her people and his officers lined up behind them

Chapter 5

Nods, Shrugs, and Occasional Threats

Tomas cleaning strange graffiti from a school hallway wall as the custodian walks toward him

Chapter 6

You Didn’t Hear This From Me

Courtney standing up to Bryce for Tomas outside the school as students, buses, and cars leave for the day

Chapter 7

Manhood’s Overrated

Tomas and Bryce facing each other over a checkerboard in the school gym as students and teachers watch from the bleachers

Chapter 8

Winners Don’t Cry

Tomas walking through town covered in glitter, wearing short pink gym shorts and a tight gray shirt with Red on his back as people photograph him

Chapter 9

Glitter, Party of One

A worn red backpack sitting alone on Tomas’s bed in an empty, shadowed bedroom

Interlude

Red’s Interlude

Tomas riding his bicycle along a dark rural road as Courtney’s headlights approach from behind

Chapter 10

Heroes Take the Bike Lane

An unnatural shadow hovering over Tomas as he sleeps, with Red nearby in the dark bedroom

Interlude

Collector’s Interlude

Tomas, Courtney, Bryce, Riker, and other students gathered around a large bonfire in a wooded clearing at night

Chapter 11

Those Aren’t S’mores You’re Roasting

Kay leading Sagen and Eljen as they force their way into the sheriff’s station

Chapter 12

Mama Bear Don’t Play

A dark spirit hovering above a moonlit curving highway as one lone car winds through the wooded hills

Interlude

Collector’s Interlude

Tomas and Bentley waiting on the beach as Vette approaches from the surf carrying her surfboard

Chapter 13

Why Does the Ocean Wave?

Tomas, Vette, and Bentley enjoying a crowded night among the glowing rides of the Pelican Point boardwalk

Chapter 14

Ding Dong, Country Strong

Tomas, Vette, and Bentley moving canvas money bags from an armored truck to a waiting sedan on an empty highway

Chapter 15

It’s Only Money, Honey

Tomas saving a choking child outside a gas station while an impossible wall of rain cuts across the parking lot

Chapter 16

The Saving Grace of Rain

Tomas and Red crossing a rain-flooded abandoned runway toward the warmly lit hangar where Kay and her crew are hiding

Chapter 17

Homecoming, Hangars, and Headaches

Kay and her armed crew facing Kincaid, Soren, and their men across the hangar while Tomas and Bryce stand unarmed between them

Chapter 18

We Are Gathered Here Today…

Tomas, Kay, and Red holding one another inside a purple-white shield as the Collector crumbles into smoke and ash above them

Chapter 19

I Got You

An injured Tomas sitting alone behind the cage in the back of Sheriff Rook’s patrol car as the airport recedes behind him

Chapter 20

This Uber Has Sirens

Tomas in plain institutional clothing walking alone along a beige Blackridge hallway with his shoulder against the wall

Chapter 21

Promises Lost

Tomas outside Blackridge at night as Kay skids to a stop in her truck and reaches for him through the open passenger door

Chapter 22

Promises Found

Tomas discovering a smooth blue stone in the clear shallows of a tropical beach beside his blue bookbag

Epilogue

Don’t Call Me Blue