Just like its heroes, what this book lacks in sophistication it makes up for in heart; a warm, enjoyable baseball story.
A troubled kid learns valuable lessons about love, honor and friendship during the home-run race of 1961.
Marshall Elliot’s summer is off to a great start. He’s earned a spot on the Flushing Little League All-Star roster; he’s caught the eye of the prettiest girl in town; and he’s just learned that his new next-door neighbors are none other than Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, the hard-hitting Yankees duo who are duking it out to beat Babe Ruth’s long-standing record of 60 home runs in one season. But before long, the dream summer starts to fall apart. Marshall can’t tell a soul about the Yankees’ hideout in Queens; his parents’ marriage starts to unravel; and soon it seems that even his own fledgling baseball career may be over before it starts. The story uses alternating first-person narratives from the perspectives of Maris, Mantle, Marshall and “fixer” Julius “Big Julie” Isaacson. Reznik (The Girl from Long Guyland, 2012) explains that the book is derived from an original screenplay she wrote in 1999 that never made it to film, and so it’s unsurprising that the characters are painted with broad cinematic strokes. Marshall is an innocent, his father’s a cad, his mother’s a fragile angel; there’s also little here to complicate the personalities of Maris (a Boy Scout and a family man) and Mantle (a pained, boozing womanizer) as they have been annealed by history. Still, there’s a reason why such tropes work for movies, and they are effective in the book, as well. Just as you’re rolling your eyes over a hackneyed plotline or two (an episode in Binghamton is excessively Dickensian) and predictable character development (he’s a gentle giant with a heart of gold!), you find yourself sucker punched by a closing sequence that tear-jerkingly fulfills the wishes of every kid who has ever had a hero, played a sport, had a crush or fought with a parent. The novel of course targets baseball fans (and especially Yankees fans), but like the best of the genre, there’s a baseball-as-metaphor-for-life theme here to which few readers will be immune.
Just like its heroes, what this book lacks in sophistication it makes up for in heart; a warm, enjoyable baseball story.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-1938749193
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Violet Crown Publishers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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