GREAT BASEBALL STORY JUST IN TIME FOR SUMMER!

 

     Full disclosure -this is a baseball story and I’m not a fan of baseball, but I fell in love with the characters in this story. Rylander, the author of The Fourth Stall, has hit it out of the park with this coming of age baseball story. His character development is so well crafted that it is quite easy for us to picture Alex Weakerman, a 13-year-old middle schooler - that alone should give everyone the shivers as they remember how awkward those years were! And how about having a last name like “Weakerman”? It’s a joke waiting to happen. And if that was not enough, Alex has such a bad case of social anxiety that he has coined his own term for it – “Flumpo”. He’s a smart kid with a knack for statistics, primarily baseball data, but is unable to string words together that make sense when speaking to anyone except his immediate family.

     However, his grandfather is the owner of an independent league baseball team, called The Hurricanes, and they bond over their love of the game. School is finally over for the year and Alex, along with his best friend, Slips, are looking forward to a long summer of baseball and hot dogs. But things don’t turn out exactly the way they had planned. Grandpa Ira passes away and Alex is lost. What will happen to the Hurricanes? Who will love and support the team now that his grandfather is gone? The Hurricanes have had their glory days but now barely win a game. . .

     Things take an interesting turn when Grandpa Ira’s will is read and he has left the team to . . .Alex! Sure, he knows everything there is to know about baseball but being a manager is something completely different. First off, he’ll have to talk! Horrors! He wants to sit in his regular seat in the bleachers, write down each stat and eat hot dogs. That’s all he wants to do but there is a stipulation in the will that the Hurricanes need to win the playoffs to even remain a team or they will be sold to cover an unknown debt by Ira.

     Come along for the play by play of this delightful summer story and hold your breath throughout, as we follow the ups and downs of this small Midwestern baseball team and it’s teenage manager!

Don’t miss this one – it’s a knuckle biter!!

     I will be giving away a copy of this book to one lucky winner. Simply “like” or comment on this post and you will be entered into the drawing.

 

Riley's Ghost by John David Anderson

 

Hello Fellow Book Lovers!

I am so excited to be back to my blog, writing and reviewing books. First disclosure - it's been a while since I have posted - almost three years. To make a long story short, I retired after 36 years of teaching at the district, state and university level. I was incredibly lucky to have missed pandemic teaching! Please know that my heart goes out to each and every one of you because only a fellow educator can truly understand what you had to, and still have to do . . . 

Books are more necessary than ever now . . . all kinds and types. I am lucky to be reviewing John David Anderson, and his new release, Riley's Ghost. Second disclosure - I have always been a big fan of his, from Posted to Finding Orion and from Granted to Ms. Bixby's Last Day, I have loved them all. Riley's Ghost is a delightful mashup of realistic fiction and fantasy, specifically ghosts! Anderson captures the essence of that middle grade age group so well and it brought me back to my own struggles in junior high, which are still universal themes today - friends and "not" friends.

Riley Flynn is a middle schooler who used to have a best friend. Sound familiar to you because I know it did to me. I thought the world had ended when I was friendless in 8th grade. But Riley gets it worse, because her former best friend, and the popular group she joins, lock Riley in a closet on a Friday afternoon  . . . and leave! Being claustrophobic, I almost wished Anderson wasn't such a master of description, because as he described the narrow science closet and the items on the shelves, including dissected frogs, I began to hyperventilate just a little. 😒

When Riley manages to escape, she finds she isn't being allowed to leave, no matter what she does, and on top of that there is the conversation she is having with a "ghost" frog! 

Wait! What? Yup. And that is only the beginning. This book was a page turner for me as we learn more about our girl Riley, but about others before her. Like I said - it comes full circle.

Riley's Ghost is going to be a hit with readers and teachers alike. I can see it working really well as a read aloud because it will help generate multiple conversations about different themes including, How do you lose a friend? How can you help? What kinds of things make a difference? As a matter of fact Walden Pond Press and Anderson have a discussion guide that I will post here.

I'd love to give someone a free copy of Riley's Ghost courtesy of Walden Pond Press. Just follow me and leave your name and I'll randomly pick a winner on Monday, January 24th.  Good Luck - this one is a keeper!