Joyce Hostetter, author of Battle of the Books title, Blue- visited BES to talk to 4th and 5th graders about her book and the Miracle of Hickory. The Miracle of Hickory was a hospital that was built in 3 days when a polio epidemic hit Hickory with a vengeance. All students had read her book previously and learned how Hostetter did an enormous amount of research in order to write her book.