Keeping Score

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Mrs.N

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.

Posted in Middle Grades, Tween | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Prince of Fenway Park

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Mrs.N

The Prince of Fenway Park by Julianna Baggott

Those of you that know me know that there is simply no way I could resist a book with Fenway Park in the title and a kid in a Red Sox uniform.  It’s 2004 and Oscar Egg’s mother has decided she needs to up and move to Baltimore to see if she can make things work with her boyfriend.  Of course, she can’t bring Oscar with her, so she leaves him in the care of his father, who left when he was a baby.  Over the years, Oscar has seen his father infrequently and he’s not altogether sure he’ll be welcomed.  With the Red Sox in the playoffs, losing to the Yankees, Oscar’s pretty sure he’s a loser too. But when he enters his father’s world, he learns that all of this is much bigger than him.  His father is essentially trapped in a magical world underneath Fenway Park where there are horned creatures, a Banshee and a Pooka.  And the reason the Red Sox haven’t won a world series in 86 years isn’t the famous Curse of the Bambino.  It has something to do with Oscar’s own family.  He must uncover the truth in order to set his own life to rights and allow his favorite team to win once and for all.

On one hand, I was really super excited and didn’t even mind all the magical stuff which was pretty fun.  On the other hand, I wished the 2004 baseball season had been better integrated in the story.  The third game of the playoffs the Yankees beat the Red Sox in a terrible 19-6 rout.  I really wanted that game to be significant to the story, for there to be some type of evil magic afoot causing such a terrible loss.  It felt like the author had this terrific idea and then just didn’t worry too much about the baseball part of the execution, which was a huge error considering how serious Sox fans are.  Also, there are some minor  details which will bother only the most die-hard Sox fans (the reverse curve sign that was corrected to read Reverse the Curse was on Storrow Drive, not 93, even more serious fans will be annoyed that that’s not the version of the sign that they remember).   Oscar’s father is a major Bill Buckner fan, devastated that his one error tarnished an amazing career.  (Try not to be too annoyed when Ted Williams plays right field instead of left, he did start his career there.)

But the baseball-fantasy elements largely works. Where Baggott fails entirely, is in social issues.  Oscar is adopted and he is unsure his parents meant to adopt a mixed race child.  He endures nasty comments from classmates (using the famous Who’s your daddy? chant that fans would jeer at Pedro Martinez) and overhears plenty of remarks to his parents, including that Oscar doesn’t belong to his father, that someone else stuck his father with the bill.  While these things are unsettling, they are certainly things that some adopted children face.  What bothered me is that Oscar’s mother is a pretty heartless unsympathetic woman.  She would answer “thank you, he’s adopted” to any compliments on his looks, whereas his father would just say “thank you.”  And then she just up and leaves.  Again, while awful, I’m sure it is something that does happen.  But the end of the book sees his mother return with full forgiveness, forgiveness that she has done nothing to earn, and includes a possible reunion of Oscar’s father and mother, which is a pretty sick card to play seeing as most divorces do not end with the parents getting back together.  I just felt that there was no one actively condemning the people who mistreat Oscar and the underlying message was that these things happen, and that we all feel abandoned and like orphans at times.  Sure, maybe we all do feel that way sometimes, but most of us don’t have one of our parents as the main perpetrator. Finally, Baggott uses the N-word in her book. She explains her reasons in her author’s note, but as I’ve said before, I can’t say as I’m persuaded.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – Oscar’s parents are divorced. Oscar believes that his father is still in love with his mother.  Oscar’s mother leaves him behind to go pursue a relationship.
Profanity – “stinks,” “heck,” “stupid”, “sucker,” “hell,” “n—r lips”, “n—r” The n-word is printed in it’s entirety in both of those cases. The n-word is used by Babe Ruth, repeating something he was called as a child and called during his pro career. While historically accurate (during the big leagues time at least), This was unnecessary. Baggott does offer her reasons in an author’s note, but I’m afraid I have to respectfully disagree.   Some characters curse without us knowing what the words are.
Death, Violence and Gore – Oscar has been punched.  A woman tries to curse Oscar’s father “may your horse kick you in the head…may your wife beat you with a pan”  In the Cursed world, there are those who want to hurt Oscar.  A creature goes after Oscar and Oscar’s father fights back.  One of the Aunties recommends flogging Oscar.  Scratch draws blood.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Smoker the organist smokes multiple cigarettes at once.
Frightening or Intense Things – Horned and two headed creatures.  Sometimes two headed creatures with horns.

Posted in Middle Grades, Tween | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jackie and Me

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Mrs.N

Jackie & Me by Dan Gutman

This right here is the book that launched the blog. Here’s the story way back on my very first post.

Joe Stoshack has a special, highly specific talent.  He can time travel.  But only when handling baseball cards.  If he holds a card, he gets a fuzzy, tingling sensation and then is magically transported back to that player’s world.  When Joe’s assigned a school report on an African-American who has made an important contribution to society, he knows exactly who he wants to see – Jackie Robinson.

This is the first one of Gutman’s baseball time travel books that I’ve read, and boy,  do I get the appeal.  Reading this was a snap, it was interesting and engaging throughout.  I definitely will continue to endorse the series.  It’s especially popular with third and fourth grade baseball fans.  I’m especially impressed with Gutman’s ability to create an engaging story without forcing familiar heroes into ridiculous situations as often happens when history meets fiction.

What’s not to like? For me, the race issue is a big one.  I thoroughly understand where writers are coming from when they say that they want to be realistic about the treatment of Jackie Robinson or whichever African-American they’re writing about.  But I just can’t endorse the use of the n-word, which is used repeatedly in this book.  Sure, use “n-word” but in a book for third and fourth graders, don’t write it out.  Would you drop f-bombs into a book for that age group?  Even if it’s what the character would really say?  In Gutman’s case, the answer is no.  His Babe Ruth entry in the series is filled with $@#! and other swear replacements.  So why is it okay to print the n-word just because it’s historically honest.  You can be plenty accurate by typing “n-word” or “n____” without having to use it.  Gutman does say  “it was about the worst word you could say to an African American” but is that strong enough for children to know it’s on the level of fuck? Because it is, or worse.

Good for: Hey, I’d be happy to recommend the series as a whole to baseball loving kids, but I did pull this copy from my classroom library.  If I were a parent, I’d have to think long and hard about whether I’d power through with full explanations about my feelings on this language or take a black sharpie to the book.  But as a teacher, I don’t want it read without discussion.

Language Note – Jackie Robinson uses the word “Negroes” to refer to African-Americans. Another boy calls him “colored”  When speaking to people in the past, Joe uses their own terminology.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Some boys play stickball without their shirts on.
Profanity – “stupid” “Polack”, “ticks you off” “n—–r” which Gutman (a white man) writes out in its entirety, repeatedly. Gutman says “it was about the worst word you could say to an African American” and that most people call it the “N word” in our time.  1111 “jungle bunny”, “snowflake,” “brownie,” “Sambo” “boy”
Death, Violence and Gore – There’s a brawl on the baseball field, punches are thrown.  Joe runs into a man that has been cut badly by a bottle.  Joe has a temper and threatens when he is angry “I’m gonna kill him!”  Jackie Robinson receives threats on his life, that he would be shot if he played the game.  His wife and child were threatened as well.  He gets spiked in game. Joe socks another boy in the face.  There’s a part where Joe is threatened, told that what they do to “uppity Negroes” is to hang them over a tree branch.  Joe’s father pounds one fist against the other when Joe forgets something that he wanted him to do.  Babe Ruth is dying of cancer.  In the reader’s note at the end, we learn the years many of the famous players died, and that Jackie Robinson, Jr died in a car accident at the age of 24.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – a pitcher takes a swig of whiskey before a game.  There’s a beer sign at the park.  In the reader’s note at the end, we learn that Jackie Robinson Jr. was addicted to drugs and alcohol when he grew up.
Frightening or Intense Things – None that aren’t mentioned above.

Posted in Middle Grades, Tween | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Baseball Saved Us

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Mrs.N

Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki

During World War II, the American government moved many West Coast residents of Japanese descent to internment camps in the desert.  They were surrounded by barbed wire fences and guarded by soldiers with guns.  It did not matter that they had never acted illegally or if they had been in the US for generations, they were trapped just the same.   Despite this oppression, the people of the camps created baseball fields out of the dust and old and young would play this American game.  This picture book does a lovely job of telling the story in a way that is very appropriate and accessible to younger readers.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – “Jap,” It is explained that this word means people hate him.
Death, Violence and Gore – Soldiers with guns guard the camp, and America is at war.  A soldier with his gun is shown in one picture.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

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All the Broken Pieces

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Mrs.N

All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg

Lately, I seem to have a baseball as therapy theme. Matt lives with his mother and father and younger brother Tommy.  He goes out for the baseball team.  He is desperate to please his family.  It’s not his first family.  He was airlifted out of Vietnam, handed by his mother to soldiers, told “you can’t stay here.”  Matt struggles to reconcile his intense feels of loss and betrayal resulting from being given up by his mother, abandoned by his father and having to leave his brother behind with his terror that his current life will also somehow dissolve.  This is more than a book about baseball, it’s a book about war, adoption, loss and grief.  Written in verse, it’s a quick read with lots to discuss, and may make a good classroom read for middle school and high school.

I am far from an expert on how books about adoption should read.   Disclaimer aside, I liked how the author did not shy away from the trauma and loss aspect of adoption.  Matt’s family makes an effort to involve him with the cultural traditions of Vietnam as well as deal with the issues he has from being there during the war.  They commit to helping him try to find his family in Vietnam.  It’s clear his family feels that there is enough love to go around for both families.  The part that made me the most uncomfortable is when a Vietnam vet uses Matt as an example of the good that they did in Vietnam.  I couldn’t help but think, yeah, well, they wouldn’t need rescuing if you hadn’t been destroying their country.  But it is a good topic for discussion, especially about perspective and motivations: “Why do the vets need to believe that they saved children?”

Sex, Nudity, Dating – A Vietnamese woman and a soldier have a child, she “called him husband”  An adult character’s wife left him.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – There are frequent and graphic descriptions of the Vietnam war.  This book is likely to be disturbing to some.  A child is badly injured by a land mine, losing his legs and fingers.  There are descriptions of burnt flesh, crying children, flames, screams, guns, withered hands, death in the trenches, using children to carry explosives, wiping blood from a torn up face.  This type of description is found throughout the book.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Dad grabs a beer.
Frightening or Intense Things – An adult character has cancer.  The war descriptions and descriptions of Vietnam veterans are quite intense.  Finally, there is clearly trauma involved in Matt’s adoption.

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The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Mrs.N

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane

A deep abiding love of the game isn’t just limited to boys.  I know this firsthand since I have always been a huge baseball fan.  Like Molly, I grew up playing catch with my dad and watching games together.   But as an eighth grader, Molly has to live with unthinkable tragedy.  Just six months ago, her father died in a car accident.  While her mother tries desperately to banish all sign of him from the house, Molly’s doing her best to hold onto his memory, mainly through baseball.  She uses the knuckleball he taught her to earn a spot on the boy’s baseball team.  Molly’s choice to play baseball isn’t popular with everyone, but it’s something she feels she has to do.  And while she’s trying to lose herself in the game, it turns out she finds something in the process, new friends, new role models finally settling in to a new normal.

Overall, I found that the book did not condescend to its audience. There is no assumption that the most likely female readership will not understand the baseball aspects of the book.  It’s for lovers of the game, pure and simple, regardless of gender.   Real life baseball information ranging from famous knuckleballers (including my own beloved Tim Wakefield of the Red Sox) to women ballplayers who played with and against men is great for inspiring kids to learn more. 

Despite the fact that I liked this book, I wish the characters had a little more depth.  Also, Molly and her dad were supposedly Cubs fans, and yet this is sort of a small detail.  This makes me feel like the author name dropped the Cubs to get some credit for bringing up a baseball team with a rich history.  It’s sort of strange to me that a girl whose main connection to her father is baseball would be a sort of indifferent fan.  Not to mention that on the whole Cubs fans are pretty rabid.

Great for: Girls who love sports.  Molly is not a caricature.  She’s a normal girl that just really likes to play the game of baseball.  Also, I was really pleased that this book’s content was generally appropriate. I feel comfortable recommending this for upper elementary, although it does have some hard vocabulary, much of it is defined in context.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – There is one instance of hand-holding and one quick kiss.  There’s an observation that you can kiss someone enough to make them bruise.  The boys on the team say that a boy’s called a jock because of their “equipment”.
Profanity – “thank god,” “ticked off,” “shut up,” “darn,”
Death, Violence and Gore – Molly’s father died six months before the start of the book.  There’s a mention of President McKinley’s assassination.  There’s a reference to Charles Manson hearing voices.  Molly has seen a baseball movie where the pitcher lost his leg in a hunting accident.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None of the characters drink or smoke. There are a few references however.  A newspaperman is described as “cigar sucking.”  Molly reflects that her father was not a drug or booze addled person, in fact, he didn’t drink.  Molly says that she’s playing baseball, not shooting heroin.  Someone sounds like they have a “two-pack a day” habit.  A character is described as “not a stoner.”
Frightening or Intense Things – Written in a post 9/11 world, this book has various references to terrorists and terrorism.  There’s reference to a security czar changing the threat level.  The TV news talks about dirty bombs and bioterrorism.

Posted in Middle Grades, Tween | Tagged , | 2 Comments

All-Star Fever

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Mrs.N

All-Star Fever: A Peach Street Mudders Story by Matt Christopher

When it comes to sports writing, Matt Christopher is both prolific and well liked. He’s starting to get more competition these days (which is a good thing) but for a long time he was the go to author in the genre. All Star Fever like many Christopher books requires an in depth understanding of the game in order to be enjoyable. This book is not for the casual fan, but rather for the kid who can score a game with you. Despite the advanced baseball knowledge required, this is overall an easy chapter book. There is a full page illustration about once per short chapter.

This first book in the Peach Street Mudders series follows Bus as he desperately tries to impress scouts so that he’ll make the county All-Star team.  The problem is, Bus is so eager to show off, he’s distracted during the game.  The main story is about Bus wanting to make the county All-Star team, but the rest of the book is about being a good person.  Specifically about being the kind of person your parents can trust. In that respect I sort of felt that while Bus made the same decisions and mistakes as many kids he was given an awful lot of credit (maybe more than he deserved) for what good decisions he made.

The Peach Street Mudders series continues by following other players on the team.  The players do include a Latino boy and an Asian boy if I’m safe in judging by names.  Those books may be of interest if you’re looking for slightly more diverse baseball choices for the young reading crowd.

On the Matt Christopher spectrum, these are harder than “The Dog That…” series, about the same as some of Christopher’s offerings like The Lucky Baseball Bat and significantly easier than the bulk of his work. If you go to a library or bookstore it should be easy to tell the difference in difficulty by the size of the font, the number of pictures and the overall length of the book. While the Peach Street Mudders can probably be enjoyed by second graders, many Christopher books are difficult even for beginning or middle of the year third graders, so don’t expect your child to easily transition between them without checking the level first.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – “drat,” “heck,”
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

Posted in Primary Grades | Tagged , | 2 Comments

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Mrs.N

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter

The title of this book is a challenge which kids will find hard to resist.  Despite parents, teachers and librarians begging kids not to judge a book by the cover, this cover will captivate young readers.  Oh sure, from here it looks like some old baseball player on the mound.  But in real life, this is shiny and flashy; you tilt the book and Koufax pitches the ball.

Luckily, what this book has on the inside is every bit as worthwhile as its eye-catching packaging.  Winter focuses on just a small snapshot of Koufax’s life; this is no boring womb to tomb biography. Instead, it’s a story of perseverance, great talent that needed hard work to be refined, overcoming adversity and the age old contradiction of life being amazing, wonderful and not fair all at once.

So, maybe you never heard of Sandy Koufax.   Maybe all you know is that he was a Dodger.  But by the end of this book, you’ll know how he was an unlikely hero: a Jewish man playing baseball during a time of discrimination; a fast ball pitcher whose fast ball wasn’t enough.  Except for when it was too much and destroyed his body.  Baseball fans know Koufax as a baseball legend, but now new generations will learn his story.

The book has a conversational tone, plus great extras like call out boxes with facts and stories, a glossary of baseball terms and web addresses of statistical sources.

Great for: Jewish sports heroes can be hard to come by, so it’s great to get a book that doesn’t ignore Koufax’s religion, nor make it the sole story.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – “heck”, the author reports that people said “things I can’t repeat” about Koufax because he was Jewish. It gets the point across without having to resort to printing racist slurs.
Death, Violence and Gore – Guys knock players down to keep them from scoring.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Koufax had to take painkillers for injuries, but no addiction or misuse is implied.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

Posted in Primary Grades | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Dog That Called the Pitch

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Mrs.N

The Dog that Called the Pitch by Matt Christopher

I have to admit some bias here because the starring terrier, Harry, looks just like my very own dog.  Sure Harry’s an Airedale, not a Welsh, but it will do. As far as I’m aware this is the easiest level of sports book written by Christopher, who is a prolific writer of children’s books. The addition of the dog furthers the appeal to young readers and there are illustrations on nearly every page.

As is the case with most of Christopher’s writing, this book will be indecipherable (not to mention mind numbingly boring) to anyone without a strong grasp of baseball, because the main action of the book is a description of the game. The intrigue in this entry in “The Dog Who…” series (Yes! A series!) lies with the umpire. You see Harry the dog and Mike communicate via ESP. And who doesn’t want a baseball savvy dog with ESP, am I right? The problem is, for some reason, the umpire of this game also has ESP. When the umps glasses break during the game, Harry the dog can save the day by calling the pitches. The only problem is, Mike is the pitcher. Can Harry be trusted to be honest?

Great for: This is uniquely positioned at a reading level that largely lacks quality writing. It’s often a hit with athletic or sports crazed kids who are reluctant to read (especially as they get older and lag in reading skills) because it features something they do feel knowledgable about. Additionally, because it’s a series, you can offer them several before you have to turn to something else.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – Not really.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

Posted in Primary Grades | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

October: When a Young Fan’s Thoughts Turn to Baseball

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Mrs.N

Sure, everywhere you go you are bombarded by pumpkins, skeletons, giant signs from costume warehouses all telling you HERE COMES HALLOWEEN. But for a lucky few sports fans, this is the height of baseball season:  playoffs and finally, the world series.  So this October, it’s all about green fields, the smack of a bat on a ball and American’s Pastime.  Game on!

If you’d been hoping for some great halloween reads, click here to see last year’s witchy reviews.

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