Before You Go: A New Venture for James Preller

James Preller is a friend of Literate Lives. He is one of the first authors to make contact with us, and Karen and I felt like we had really made it when a real author commented on something written on our blog. He was the first author I hosted in the library when I switched jobs and our time with him was a huge success. This past weekend I got to spend some more time with him serving as his official host at the Dublin Lit Conference and I enjoyed every minute of it, hopefully he did too.

Before coming to the conference James sent me an ARC of his new YA title Before You Go. He and I have something in common on this novel, it's his first journey into the world of young adult fiction, and it's my first YA review. I'm saying that as something of a disclaimer, I don't claim to be an expert in this genre, and I don't really have anything to compare to Before You Go. I also don't expect to review too many other YA selections since they don't fit in our elementary library. That being said, here goes.

The book opens with a car wreck. Four people in a car on a dark night on a lonely road. One of them is killed, but the reader doesn't know the identity. The rest of the story flashes back to shortly, several weeks before the accident and goes through the life of some typical Long Island teenagers.

The main character, Jude, is working at a refreshment stand on Jones Beach the summer between his junior and senior years. Jude has never gotten over the death of his little sister when he was supposed to be watching her seven years ago, when he was only nine. Characters move in and out of the story, his best friend Corey, his co-worker Roberto, his first love Becka, his high school buddies Vinnie "The Italian Stallion" Puche and Lee.

The characters move in and out interacting with each other in very believable ways, always making the reader which one is the victim of the accident. I changed my mind too many times to count and it really kept me reading to find out. The characters are real, and as a dad to a teen age son, the relationships between the boys is spot on! It's obvious that James has spent time with teen age boys because the conversations and insults exchanged are thing I've heard my son and his friends say to one another. I really thing boys are going to be able to read this book and find themselves in at least one of the characters along the way.

The story is well written and again James Preller chooses word for maximum effect. As in his books for younger readers, Bystander and Six Innings the characters are strong and developed and easy to relate to. His words bring the reader into the story and create feelings that left me thinking about this book for a long time.

As I said, this is not an elementary book, it is written for older students, so I won't be purchasing it for my library, but as a YA selection it's strong.

Justin Fisher Declares War Good in So Many Ways

So I'm back for a short time, everyone returned safe and sound from my second trip to Boston and in two days I leave for my annual golf trip to Michigan, or as I like to call it Dads' Camp. I won't be reading anything there, but I managed to read James Preller's new book Justin Fisher Declares War. For all of you recent readers of Literate Lives, James, or Jimmy is a friend of our blog and Karen and I so I was thrilled when he sent me a copy of his new book, autographed too! Here are several reasons I really like Justin Fisher Declares War:

1. It's short! Only 135 pages but so much is packed into those pages! It will be easy to convince my students to pick it up because they won't be intimidated by the size. I'm really starting to look for titles that are 200 pages or less.

2. It has some familiar characters. Trey and Spider from Along Came Spider are back in cameo roles. Kids like catching up with characters from other books, that's why series are so popular. James brings these two memorable characters back to interact with Justin Fisher, class clown.

3. It has a reading pit and a male librarian! WOO HOO!

4. It has lessons that can be taught through read aloud. I know class clowns everywhere who are struggling with the fact that they are losing friends because everyone is growing tired of their constant joking will see themselves. Hopefully it will lead them to reinvent themselves without changing completely, just like Justin Fisher.

5. It has a new teacher and an old teacher interacting with the old teacher sharing the age old advice "never let them see you smile." Obviously I don't agree with this philosophy, but it's such a classic. I loved it when the new teacher, Mr. Tripp, finds success with Justin when he chooses to ignore it.

6. As with all James Preller books, it has great characters interacting with each other.

7. It will appeal to all 4th and 5th graders.

As I was reading I realized that I have never created a mosaic for any of James Preller's book and since I love his stuff and he's a friend, I thought it was about time. So here it is.

A HUGE Grand Discussion of Bystander

Several years ago my friend and colleague Joyce and I started an event for fifth grade students and parents. We pick a book, have the students read with a parent and then we all meet together for an evening discussion of the book. We called it The Grand Discussion and both of us think it's one of the best things we do as teachers each year.

On Tuesday, we convened in the school library to discuss James Preller's newest book, Bystander. I reviewed it here and I honestly think it should be required reading for students in middle school or just getting ready to enter middle school like our students are.

Well, the turn out was of record proportions! Typically we have between 40 and 50 people at our events and Joyce and I pat ourselves on the back and say, "Job well done!" Imagine our surprise when people started showing up, and kept showing up, and then some more showed up, and then we started welcoming everyone and some more showed up and in the end around 85 people were at the most recent Grand Discussion! 85! That's right, 85!

I pulled all of my chairs from the back room and Joyce and some boys dragged some chairs from the second grade classrooms across the hall, and we still didn't have enough! IT WAS AWESOME!!

85!

We had people discussing Bystander in THE PIT!

We had people discussing Bystander in The Commons!

We had people discussing Bystander ALL OVER THE LIBRARY! IT WAS AWESOME!

James Preller's Bystander: Realistic Bully Story

Did you know that James Preller came to visit our school? NO!? Well just look here, here, and here to catch up. During his visit, he talked about his new novel coming out in the fall of 2009, Bystander. Fortunately for us, he had just received the advanced reader copies right before arriving in Dublin. Double fortunately for us, he left one behind for us to read and review.

This is a fabulous book. If I were a middle school teacher, I would make this required reading for all students. It is clear that James did his research on a hot topic in schools today. I sat down with the book and three hours later I was finished. For the entire three hours I was on the edge of my seat with that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach that you get when you watch a suspenseful, thrilling movie. I was so angry at times that I absolutely could not stop reading until I had some resolution to this story.

James Preller does characters about as well as anyone out there in my opinion. In Bystander, he creates a bully so believable in Griffin Connelly that the reader can't help but feel nervous when Griff is doing his dirty work. In so many bully stories, the bully is a big dumb lug that isn't likable. In Griffin Connelly, James Preller presents a real bully. A kid that other kids are attracted to, a kid that the main character describes as almost "pretty", a kid that adults trust, but also sense that something isn't quite right. Griffin is the kid who stirs the pot, gets other kids to do his dirty work, and then somehow, always gets off scott free. He is the kid other kids both fear and admire at the same time. We have all seen a Griffin Connelly on the playground.

Eric Hayes is the perfect bystander. As the new kid, he is looking for friends and his first interaction at his new school is with Griffin, a few days before school starts. Due to intimidation, fear, not knowing anyone else, Eric is drawn into Griffin's circle. He doesn't really participate in the bullying, but he doesn't do anything to stop it either, classic bystander. My first reaction was to be angry with Eric, but then I realized that he was no different than a lot of kids. Real bullies, like Griffin, are extremely charismatic. Kids want the bullies to like them and so they don't buck the system, it's easier to ignore the behavior with the hope of being accepted.

David Hallenback is a sad victim. Hallenback is like a whipped puppy. He is so beaten down by Griffin and his gang that he will do anything to gain their approval. Griffin and his gang are constantly tormenting Hallenback, physically and mentally. The first time Hallenback appears in the story, he's running from Griffin and friends, and he's covered in ketchup. Later in the story they get him on the playground, making sure they are out of the teacher's line of vision and physically abuse him. Eric watches, angry at the treatment, but doesn't do anything. When Eric finally begins to stand up to Griffin, Hallenback is the one who lures him into trouble. My feeling for Hallenback went back and forth between pity and anger almost at the turn of every page.

The plot is believable, quick moving and well developed. At one point I had to keep myself from yelling out a warning to Eric as Hallenback lured him into the pet cemetery. Earlier, I said that I couldn't stop reading until I had some resolution and honestly, when I finished, I'm not sure I felt that I had resolution. When Karen and I discussed this, she reminded me of our conversation with Jimmy. He said that he purposely left the book the way he did, because realistically, bullies are seldom dealt with, and usually get away and move on to another victim, all true, just like this book. It's not an After School Special where everything is fixed in an hour, it's written to be believable.

James Preller's Visit -- Day Two (Slice of Life)

How you write a mystery with students (James Preller style):

1) You encourage the process of brainstorming, and you follow through with the concept by respecting and honoring all ideas (no matter how silly they might be).

2) You stand in front of the group with chart paper and a marker to capture the group’s thinking because those thoughts are important for the whole group.

3) You ask the students what every mystery contains, and they tell you a CRIME. You celebrate that answer, write it on the chart, and then seek ideas for what possible crimes might have occurred at this elementary school.

4) You listen (oh so patiently) as students suggest crimes: the principal was kidnapped, a computer was stolen, or a Smartboard was stolen. You explain (oh so patiently) that a crime written for elementary students is not likely to be quite so “large” in nature. Then, someone in the peanut gallery (ok, me) makes a suggestion that a University of Connecticut flag in one of the 5th grade rooms might get stolen. As the author, you take this suggestion and write it on the chart, but at the same time bring it back to the students by saying, “Oh my gosh. I’ve never heard a good idea from a teacher before!” Students think this is hysterical, and we’re back on track.

5) Now that we have a crime, it’s time to figure out who our SUSPECTS are. You immediately make it “safe” by saying we won’t be using anyone’s name that is in the room. Then, you give some of the most valuable advice to them as authors for anything they write. You say we need to “show, not tell” what the character is like. If we say the character is a nerd, show a picture with words why that is so. If the suspect is a custodian who doesn’t like children, SHOW, not tell, how you know that. After we brainstorm information about 3 possible suspects, you chart the ideas, and we need to settle on one. But wait! We need to think about the next step first.

6) MOTIVE – what exactly is the motive for each of these possible suspects? You encourage us to do some rethinking about our suspects. Let’s look a little deeper and see what might make one of them take the UConn flag. Was it signed by a team that won the NCAA tournament, and therefore worth some money? Does the suspect possibly have a sick relative or pet, and they can’t pay the medical bills? You, as the author, help the students realize that things aren’t as black and white as they might seem on the surface. Did the suspect feel like he/she was slighted at some point by the owner of the flag? Is this some sort of retribution? With your encouragement, these are the types of motives the students are able to brainstorm as a group.

7) So many great motives. So you have the students look at another mystery element – OPPORTUNITY. We know our list of suspects, we have talked about some motives, but who had the opportunity to get to the flag? We discuss some possibilities together.

8) Time is running out, but you’ve taught the students yet another wonderful writer’s technique. You have modeled the way you think in bits and pieces all over the chart, circling and returning to certain sections over and over. You’ve shown them that brainstorming doesn’t have to be linear – line after line of possible supports for a topic – it can be cyclical. A writer can pick up a thread of thought or an idea at any time. Ideas can be messy, written all over a page, and revisited at the appropriate time.

9) Show the kids that you care about them and the writing piece you are creating together. Have that certain quality that lets students know you like them, and you’re happy to share this opportunity with them.


Both of us at Literate Lives are so grateful to James Preller (he will always be Jimmy to us) for how he enriched both students’ and teachers’ lives in the two days he spent at our school. We are so blessed to have met him, spent time with him, and learned from him!!

James Preller Visit Day One

From recent posts, you know that author James Preller was here last week. Karen and I have been blogging about author visits and time spent with Jimmy for the last several days and we realized we haven't even written about his time with the kids which was fabulous. So for the next two posts we'll be sharing what happened.

Day one was set up like a typical author visit, however, it turned out to be anything but a typical author visit. Each grade level visited the library for a 30 minute time with James Preller. He shared about his books, family, inspirations and life in general. I was amazed at the comfort level Jimmy exhibited in front of our students. It is clear that he is very comfortable with kids, and in fact enjoys spending time with them.

At one point early in the day, I caught myself SHUSHING the younger students. That's right, the LOUD librarian was SHUSHING the kids!! They were excited about something Jimmy had just said and were reacting. He looked at me and said, "It's all right." and the next thing I knew he had complete control over the room once again. It was at that point, with the first group of kids that I knew this was going to be a great two days.

Throughout the day, Jimmy changed his presentation tailoring it to the age of the students listening. The most difficult group was the last one of the day that was made up pre-schoolers, kindergartners and fifth graders. He also changed it so he didn't get bored with a canned speech. I'm thankful for this since I got to hear something different in each of the five sessions.

The younger kids heard Wake Me in Spring, an easy picture book he wrote. Some of the kids got to act out the hiccups as he read Hiccups for Elephant, both experiences kept their interest, and entertained the audience. I was impressed with how well he went with the flow, and adjusted to his audience.

One of my favorite stories was the inspiration for chapter 2 of Jigsaw Jones and the Case of the Million Dollar Mystery. The chapter title is "Green Milk" and involves Jigsaw hiding his broccoli in his milk. In the end, he is busted by his dad and has to drink the obnoxious concoction, but I was fascinated by the fact that the whole chapter was based on something Jimmy heard on the radio, one of the Car Talk guys saying, "You can't hide broccoli in a glass of milk." I later told the kids that this is the big difference between a successful author and most of the rest of us. He heard that line as a great story starter, and I just thought it was funny.

The day ended in THE PIT. Jimmy paid me the ultimate compliment and asked me to show him how a "pro" would read his brand spankin' new book, Mighty Casey. I chose a fifth grade class that had not heard the book so the reaction would be genuine and fun. We were loud and even broke into a wave as the Delmar Dogs came back to tie the game. It was a perfect way to end the incredible first day of James Preller's visit to Bailey Elementary.

Author Visit Advice

So I'm not the resident expert on author visits, but having survived my first one, I think I learned a few things that might help another rookie out there. The first thing I would do is invite James Preller! He was so easy to work with and related to the kids so well, that my job was easy once he arrived. I wonder why I was so tired at the end of the two days? Beyond that advice, here's a list of things that I recommend to anyone arranging an author visit.

First, do some research. I was fortunate to have this blog that helped me reach out to authors, but that doesn't mean others can't find out information and get a sense of an author. Most of the current authors have a blog or website of their own. Start reading them on a regular basis, and you will soon get a feel for their personality. Try commenting on their blog and see if you can strike up an internet conversation. That's really where this visit started. Jimmy commented on a review that Karen did, and pretty soon the three of us are having conversations over email. Not only that, but other teachers in our building were leaving comments on his blog starting conversations of their own. By the time we were ready to approach him, I felt pretty sure that he would be easy to work with and fun to be around. Talk with other teachers and librarians to hear their experiences with authors. In fact, if you've had a great author visit post the name in the comments here at Literate Lives with a brief description of your experience.

Next, find a couple of hard working parent volunteers to help out. Fortunately for me, the PTO has an author visit committee and the chairs, Amy and Keyburn, were already in place. I invited them in to talk over the visit and pitched some names to them. The first decision we had to make was whether we should stay local, and save money or go for a big national name. In true Bailey fashion, and since we hadn't had an author in 3 years or so, they wanted to go big. I had a list of about five authors that had commented on our blog more than once and some sample of their books. Amy and Keyburn were almost immediately drawn to James Preller, and the invitation was issued. These two incredible ladies then took care of all of the travel and entertainment logistics which is a huge piece of this that I could never have handled as well as they did.

The cool thing about working with Jimmy was that I dealt directly with him, no middle person, publicist, agent, etc. It certainly made communication quick and easy. Since I've not worked with an author who has these people, I have nothing to compare it to, but I have to believe it's easier dealing directly with the author. We began an email conversation that took us right up to the day he was flying out of Albany, NY since a big snowstorm threatened his arrival. I learned more about him and how he worked through these notes.

Form a teacher advisory committee. I had a group of teachers representing each grade or area in our building. The purpose of this committee was to help me figure out schedules and logistics. I really tried to limit the actual work that these people were responsible for since their plates are already full. Also, I only called meetings if there was something new, or I needed an answer. Teachers are swamped and they don't need one more meeting. Their expertise and help was invaluable.

Prepare the kids before the author comes. I've been through enough of these visits from the classroom teacher's position to know that time is valuable and needs to be used wisely. I didn't want the kids taking time with James Preller with a lot of biography type questions so I had every class reading his bio on his web site before he got here. The students already knew about his family, pets, writing history, interests, hobbies, etc. By doing this, I think the kids were able to think of better questions about his books, or the life an author. I also read several samples of his writing as they passed through the library. Many of the teachers took the books their students purchased ahead of time and did classroom activities like book clubs so the students were very familiar with the author's work. I will say this did cause some confusion when distributing the books, but it was minor, and I think the benefits far outweighed the glitches.

Don't ask your teachers to do one more thing. From the classroom teacher's standpoint, sometimes these visits turn into more work. It's not that teachers, especially in my building, mind working, it's just that sometimes these visits turn into real dog and pony shows. I didn't ask my staff to make elaborate displays and cover the hallways floor to ceiling with things from the Preller books. Many of the teachers had small, authentic displays that I was sure to show Jimmy and he appreciated them, but honestly, there weren't very many spare minutes for him to look at a lot of hall displays.

If possible, pick the author up at the airport if they are coming in from out of town. The parents considered having a limo pick Jimmy up, but I really wanted to do it, and my friend Karen joined me which made it perfect. This gave us a chance to get to know Jimmy a little more before he came to the school. Be sure to read Karen's Slice of Life about this experience.

On the day of the visit, help your author get to the school early. This gave me a chance to give Jimmy a tour, introduce him to a few people and take care of any last minute set up things. It also gave him a chance to get a feel for his surroundings for the next two days and to sign a few books before the students arrived.

Parent volunteer Amy suggested a dinner at her house rather than a restaurant. This would allow more people to mingle and meet Jimmy in a more relaxed atmosphere. If your author is visiting for more than one day, which I recommend, and you have a parent who is willing and able, this is definitely the way to go. We invited the teacher committee and the PTO executive board and had an incredible evening. Fortunately Jimmy was able to work the crowd comfortably and the PR I gained with the PTO for the next author visit was invaluable.

This post is already too long, but just to wrap it up, my biggest piece of advice is to relax and enjoy your time with the author. The conversations I had with Jimmy during the down times were so enjoyable and rewarding. We talked about everything from our kids, to books, to other authors, to teaching. It was time spent that I will long remember fondly.

Slice of Life

The other day, my partner here (Bill) and I were standing at the Port Columbus airport, looking for James Preller (of Jigsaw Jones, Six Innings, and Along Came Spider fame). That's not as crazy as it sounds. James (we now call him Jimmy!) was coming to our school for an author visit.

As Bill and I stood in the deserted terminal, wondering if Jimmy's flight was delayed because of the powerhouse storm in the east last week, we had to keep pinching ourselves. We couldn't believe our good fortune. Two teachers from Dublin, Ohio, had originally met James Preller via reviews that we had both written. It started as a fun correspondence back and forth on our blogs. Then, Jimmy actually interviewed US at one point -- again, US being just two teachers from Dublin who happen to love books and write about them on a blog. Then, Bill was able to secure James Preller for a 2 day author visit, one day where he would do writing workshops with the intermediate students.

Well, life just continued to get better. Jimmy managed to make his connection in Detroit, and pretty soon I'm hugging and kissing a man I've never met in person before that night. It quickly became clear to both Bill and me that Jimmy was just as excited about meeting us as we were about meeting him. How fun is that?!

We drove him to his hotel, and then the three of us decided to spend some time chatting over drinks. We talked about a wide variety of topics, including our children (all three of us have children, and we each have one in high school). We shared titles of books and talked about the Newbery winners. We talked about the potential uses of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

But, the main thing that struck me throughout this experience was how our blogs had connected us in the beginning, and our inter-connectedness (is that even a word?) has continued. How fortunate we are in this blogging community to get to know people we might not otherwise have an opportunity to do so.

I know Bill and I (and many of our colleagues!) feel very fortunate to have gotten to know the man who is the author. I'm so glad Jimmy was able to make his connection, and Bill and I were there to greet him!!

Mighty Casey Fun Take on the Classic

So with James Preller's visit just over a week away, I've been preparing the kids with a preview of his new book and some background info from his blog. Mighty Casey is to be released on March 3 which just happens to be the day of the visit, so we were able to get our hands on a galley copy of the new book.

I've been reading it in THE PIT over the last rotation of days and it's been a hit. The kids laugh at the right places, like when the left fielder answers the call of nature in left field, and they get excited when the Delmar Dogs tie the game. In fact, the wave has been known to break out in THE PIT!

Matthew Cordell's illustrations are simple and fun to look at, the younger kids love reading the sound words like POW! When the big hit is made...and yes... they read it loudly and with great feeling. Makes a librarian proud. Oh, and for the record, this book would have been PICK FROM THE PIT regardless of whether James Preller was coming to town or not.

I'll be presenting at the big Lit Conference in Dublin tomorrow, visiting authors include Barbara O'Connor, Johanna Hurwitz, and the Sisters, just to name a few. I'm looking forward to it, and maybe I'll run into some of you there, be sure to say hello if you see me!

Looking for Newbery - Day 27

A post I did last April called "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" included James Preller's Six Innings, a great baseball book that I paired with Mike Lupica's The Big Field.

Six Innings is a story told through the course of a little league championship. Each inning features a different player's performance on the field and his life off of the field. As usual James Preller does an amazing job of developing the characters in this book. It's already received some praise and recognition by being named to the New York Library Top 100 Children's books of 2008. It's a great story that many of my students have already enjoyed. I can't wait to hear more about it when James visits us in March.

More Reviews:
Fairrosa's Reading Journal
Semicolon
The Reading Zone

James Preller (Part II)

I just have to tag on to what Bill said yesterday about James Preller.

On a professional note, I am delighted that James Preller will be coming to our school, and I'm especially looking forward to watching him do some writing workshop-style seminars with our older students. As I read his blog, I love his writing tips, and I will be using them for revision mini-lessons in my classroom to enhance our writing workshop before he even comes for his visit. I trust that the students will love meeting an author whose blog we will be following.

On a personal note, when I opened my email Tuesday, and saw an email for me from James Preller, I have to tell you --that was way too cool!!! How often does an author, whose work you enjoy, email you? For me, not many, which makes it all the more exciting! His email had a link back to his blog, sharing that his editor just called him to let him know Six Innings had been named to the New York Public Library's "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing." Congratulations to James for the well-deserved recognition his Six Innings received!

We look forward to our visit with James Preller at Bailey! Kudos to Bill for orchestrating all of this.

James Preller's Coming!

As part of my job in the library, I'm responsible for hosting an author at our school, every other year. We haven't done it in at least two, and probably three years, since I played the "rookie" card last year. I knew I wasn't getting out of it this year, so I met with the PTO chairmoms for the author visit and threw some things out for them to consider.

The first, and probably biggest, was to decide how big we wanted to go. We had a choice of going with a local person which would make the communication, travel and expenses easier, or we could try to get a big national name in, although I was a bit afraid we might be too late for this. Not surprisingly, they opted for the big national name and I wasn't totally disappointed, why not go big. I had prepared a list of authors that I thought we could still get based on visits to their websites and showed them some of the books for each that we had on hand in the library.

Almost immediately, they went for James Preller, author of the Jigsaw Jones Mystery series for our younger readers, Along Came Spider(Karen's review) and Six Innings for our older readers. I was more than excited about their choice, since my partner, Karen, had communicated with James on numerous occasions through our blog. In addition to Karen, my friends Maria and Joyce have had electronic conversations with him, so there was a natural tie-in to our building.

And so the wheels were in motion. The only real snag we hit was that he wanted to come for 2 days to make the travel worth while, understandable. I was unable to find another interested building, so I threw out the idea of having a two day visit. The first, a typical author visit day, the second a more intimate writer's workshop, if you will, with smaller groups. James has been more than accommodating and my library committee is excited about the possibilities, too.

Today I got two pieces of good news that make me even more excited for March. The first is that the flight is booked, so James Preller is coming, and the second is that his book, Six Innings, that I reviewed here was recently chosen as a New York Public Library Top 100 book! Read more about it here. Congratulations, James! Bailey is looking forward to your visit.

Along Came Spider (revision)

I was looking around at author blogs the other day, and I found James Preller's blog (author of Along Came Spider). It is a great blog to read, but I point this out because it would appear that the cover I copied in my review of this book is not the cover that will be the final published cover. Check out the top of James Preller's blog for the final cover idea. I like this cover soooooo much better -- it is much more representative of what happens in the plot line of Along Came Spider!!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

With summer right around the corner, 30 days, but who's counting, I thought I'd check out a couple of new baseball books. I'm excited to add them to our collection and recommend them to our students. I just hope I don't say something corny like, "It's a beautiful day for baseball, so let's read two!" but I probably will.

The first is by sports writer Mike Lupica, The Big Field. I have read several by Lupica, both kids and adult sports books. He is one of today's best sports authors. He always does a great mix of describing the sports and creating believable characters. The Big Field continues the formula. Hutch is the star shortstop for his American Legion team trying to make it to the big baseball stadium for the championship game. Everything seems to be on track until he has to give up his favorite position to the new kid Daryl, an aloof, natural who clearly doesn't have the same love of the game as Hutch. Add in Hutch's father who was the star shortstop for the same American Legion team in his day, but doesn't want to encourage his son's dreams for fear of him getting hurt, and you have the classic Lupica sports novel. The drama is well written with enough young teen humor to break it up and make this an enjoyable sports read. For another review see Fuse #8.

The second is a book called Six Innings by James Preller. It brought to mind the older baseball book I used to read aloud each spring, Hang Tough, Paul Mather. Preller takes one little league game, six innings and creates an incredible story. The action of each inning is described in awesome baseball detail. Intertwined with the boys playing are stories of their lives off the field. The stories come to light as each boy bats or makes a great play in the field, or in one case announces the game from the press box. One boy is the son of a police officer killed in the line of duty. Another has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma, bone cancer. One player's father supports his little league fun, but constantly reminds him that he shouldn't take it seriously. The catcher for the team has an injured arm, but won't tell is father the coach it hurts to throw. This is a great book for lovers of baseball. Kids will relate to most of the players and will thrill to the realistic baseball action. Preller has taken great care to make it realistic by combining the action from some well known actual major league games.

Two fun, action packed baseball books to start the summer that most 4th and 5th graders can read and enjoy. It makes me want to buy some Crackerjack, hot dogs and put the Cleveland Indians on the TV! PLAY BALL!!