The cerebral Brooks (Vanishing, 1999, etc.) puts a characteristic spin on this Matt Christopher–style tale of a ragtag Little League team that gets some unexpected help. Coming off a 0-10 debut season, the Breadhurst Newts face a new spring still eager to play, even though, as infielder “E6” Marchant puts it, “up the middle we have severe limitations, and down the lines we are inconsistent but mostly pretty weak.” Having found that working alone in a local print shop eases his frustration, pitcher Whiz Cary absent-mindedly prints up a baseball card one night describing awesome made-up fireballer “Ace Jones”—who appears on the mound in the flesh at the next practice. Whiz tries it again, creating cards for power-hitting outfielder “Diane Fuller,” then infield wizards “Max and Marty Rico.” Suddenly enhanced, the Newts begin not only taking leads but also actually winning. It's far from a dream team, though, as the new players barely notice the original ones, and stroll arrogantly off the field together after each game. Whiz and his buddies discover that victory doesn't have quite the expected savor. In the end, he sends the “Gang of Four” back where it came from (wherever that is—Brooks doesn’t offer a suggestion), leaving readers to ponder the difference between winning at any cost and taking pleasure just in playing the game. Pushy parents and coaches might find food for thought here, too. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 31, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-028972-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2000
A sixth-grader and an inexperienced teacher both learn something from each other in Clements’s newest teachable-moment-driven school tale. Hart Evans has always, and effortlessly, been Cool—a talent that backfires when his control-freak music teacher, Mr. Meinert, throws up his hands and leaves it to the unruly school chorus to elect its own director for the upcoming Holiday Concert. Hart surprises both Mr. Meinert and himself by rising brilliantly to the occasion. Clements stirs a few side issues into the pot—for one, Meinert and the other arts teachers are being laid off on January first—but his focus being Hart’s introduction to group dynamics and the management thereof, complications of plot or character cause only minor ripples. Having learned the value of listening, of running things democratically, and of knowing when to seek help, Hart and Meinert engineer a quirky, rousing triumph—that, no, doesn’t save Meinert’s job, but does leave everyone involved, readers included, with both good feelings and the idea that both young people and adults are sometimes guilty of underestimating each other. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-84516-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2004
Who is next in the ocean food chain? Pallotta has a surprising answer in this picture book glimpse of one curious boy. Danny, fascinated by plankton, takes his dory and rows out into the ocean, where he sees shrimp eating those plankton, fish sand eels eating shrimp, mackerel eating fish sand eels, bluefish chasing mackerel, tuna after bluefish, and killer whales after tuna. When an enormous humpbacked whale arrives on the scene, Danny’s dory tips over and he has to swim for a large rock or become—he worries’someone’s lunch. Surreal acrylic illustrations in vivid blues and red extend the story of a small boy, a small boat, and a vast ocean, in which the laws of the food chain are paramount. That the boy has been bathtub-bound during this entire imaginative foray doesn’t diminish the suspense, and the facts Pallotta presents are solidly researched. A charming fish tale about the one—the boy—that got away. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-075-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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