Keeping Score

Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park

Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s, being a Dodger’s fan isn’t a choice, it’s a calling. It doesn’t matter that 10 year old Maggie was named for her father’s favorite player on his favorite team (Yankee Joe DiMaggio), she’s a Dodger’s fan through and through. She loves to go down to the firehouse where her father used to work and listen to the games with the firemen. It can be tough being a Dodger’s fan, with them getting so close to winning (the division, the world series) and coming up short each time, but Maggie knows they’re all in it together. One day a new fireman reports to work and it turns out, he’s the probably the only person around who knows more about baseball than Maggie. Problem is, he’s a Giants fan. Slowly, Maggie is drawn in by Joe’s knowledge. He teaches her the magic of scoring a game so that she can remember every play. She learns all about the amazing Willie Mays and has to make an exception in order to have a favorite player who doesn’t play for her favorite team.

But Maggie’s world soon expands beyond baseball. Joe is drafted to serve in the Korean War. When he ships out, Maggie sends him letters. After awhile she stops getting responses.  She does everything she can think of to try to get him to answer him, but she just doesn’t know if it will be enough.

This was a really enjoyable read about the love of the game, Park does an especially nice job of capturing the spirit of what it means to be a fan, from the way you can hear the game through every window as you walk through Brooklyn to the rituals and superstitions fans have about how their own lives affect their team.  I’ll even promise that it doesn’t have a depressing ending if that will reassure you!

Age Recommendation: Grades 4+.  I think the reading level as well as the information about the war make this most suitable for students in Grade 4 and up.

Great for: Everyone who is a huge fan of the game, in particular girls.  Maggie is definitely not the only female character in this who is interested and knowledgeable. I grew up as a huge Red Sox fan and my grandmother has always been passionate about the game.  It’s great to see a book that shows other women who love the game. This book also raises interesting questions about religion.  Maggie wonders if it’s okay to pray for your favorite team, and how God chooses which team will win if everyone is praying for their own team.  She also feels guilt when bad things happen and she hasn’t prayed for them not to happen.  It’s an interesting look into how children sometimes need our assistance navigating questions of faith.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – Thankfully although the book’s main focus is a friendship between a preteen girl and an adult man, there is not anything even remotely inappropriate in either of their behavior.
Profanity – “Negro” is used to refer to black baseball players for historical reasons. War enemies are referred to as “commies,” “reds,” and “yella cowards”
Death, Violence and Gore – Maggie’s father remembers a devastating fire where many people died and he was very affected by seeing the bodies.  The war has a major impact on those who live through it and see the deaths caused by it, including the death of innocent women, children and other civilians.  Maggie thinks about the guns, grenades, bombs and fighting.  Thousands and thousands of people are killed in the war.  Some war victims are killed by friendly fire.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – One fire is caused by a cigarette butt.
Frightening or Intense Things – The theme of war and how it affects veterans can be upsetting to some, but it may have current day relevance as children know veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who may be similarly affected.