OUT IN LEFT FIELD

Name: OUT IN LEFT FIELD
Author: Don Lemna
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2313-2

by Don Lemna & illustrated by Matt Collins ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2012

Young fans of Robert Newton Peck’s Soup titles will find much to enjoy in this funny, episodic, historical novel full of...

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How is a guy supposed to live down taking a baseball to the noggin in the critical moment of an inter-town baseball game in the waning days of summer 1947?

Before flubbing the game, 11-year-old Donald was getting used to living on their farm in Station Hill, Mont. A year ago, he’d thought his life was over when his father returned from the war and dragged the family away from town, electricity and indoor plumbing (When the Sergeant Came Marching Home, 2008). Donald and his younger brother Pat have settled in thanks to baseball, a dog of confused breed, hockey and a pretty teacher. After his major baseball embarrassment, Don thinks he can win back respect by becoming a deadly archer like Errol Flynn in Robin Hood. A near-total lack of funds and his mother’s reluctance stand in his way. Don is nothing if not resourceful (well, maybe stubborn, too). Archery impresses no one, and the school bullies won’t let up. Don then hopes learning to drive and helping with harvest will do the trick; no such luck. Can Don survive angry bulls, wearing mom’s skates until Christmas and revival-tent–inspired fears of Lucifer himself? As with Lemna’s first, adult readers will have trouble not hearing the voice of Jean Shepherd in their heads as Don narrates his trials and tribulations. It's downright refreshing to see a funny book that doesn't rely on quirky characters for its gusto.

Young fans of Robert Newton Peck’s Soup titles will find much to enjoy in this funny, episodic, historical novel full of realistic characters and light family drama. (Historical fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: April 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-8234-2313-2

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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SAVING THE TEAM

From the Kicks series

by Alex Morgan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2013

Wholesome? Yes. Proper hard work and teamwork values in place? Yes. Paint by numbers? Oh, yes.

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Olympic gold medalist Morgan runs down the celebrity-sports-fiction checklist in this series opener: New school? Check. New friends? Check. New boyfriend? Maybe! New soccer team? Check. Inspire said team to take on snooty archrival private school? Check.

Quickly shedding perfunctory initial reservations, Devin sails into seventh grade at Kentville Middle School, makes instant connections in class and at Kangaroos soccer tryouts. She meets requisite bully Mirabelle at the latter, then goes on to be elected team co-captain. After a disastrous start to the season, she helps her team’s members and even the less-than-rigorous coach land on the same winning page. Following a sleepover, a dance, team-building drills and exercises, pep rallies, minor problem-solving and motivational strategizing, Devin prods the Kangaroos into position to beat the haughty Pinewood Panthers in a climactic rematch while also schooling Mirabelle, who has jumped ship to join the rival team.

Wholesome? Yes. Proper hard work and teamwork values in place? Yes. Paint by numbers? Oh, yes. (soccer glossary) (Fiction. 8-10)

Pub Date: May 7, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4424-8570-9

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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THE PORCUPINE YEAR

From the Birchbark House series , Vol. 3

by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2008

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...

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This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.

Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and enlightening. (Historical fiction. 9-11)