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King Of The Mound: My Summer With Satchel Paige (2012)

by Wes Tooke(Favorite Author)

4.03 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1442433469 (ISBN13: 9781442433465)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

review 1: This was a solid upper elementary read that touched lightly upon some serious civil rights issues. This time period has some romantic qualities, but during the 1930s, both blacks and women were excluded from the world of big league baseball and were treated by most people as second class citizens. Although apparently in North Dakota, semi-pro baseball was integrated.Nick, a promising young pitcher, is recovering from polio and the death of his mother. His father, damaged by the loss of his wife and the illness of his son, is a catcher in the local barnstormer league. Satchel Paige is playing with them this summer and he becomes Nick's mentor. Nick's next door neighbor, Emily, also offers her friendship and support and pushes him to take risks and grow.There is plenty o... moref baseball chatter and statistics for the sports reader and lots of discussion points. I kept thinking about Kadir Nelson's fantastic book, "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball".
review 2: This book is on the Sunshine State Readers Award List 2014-15. A story about a boy whose life changes after a year in the hospital as a result of polio. His mother passed away years ago and now he must re-connect with his dad, who has issues of his own including a possible demotion from playing catcher on the local baseball team. This story takes place in 1930 - a time where segregation played a prominent part in everyday life - even baseball.I thought this story was okay but unsure if kids will understand it. My son is 10 years old and polio and segregation are so foreign to him I'm not certain he would get this novel. I liked the book okay - the dad was really mean which I didn't like and the story was predictable and somewhat unrealistic(evidently the boy is much wiser than his doctors in that he takes it upon himself to not wear his brace and everything is going along just dandy.) less

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