Book Review 23: The Big Field by Mike Lupica

Blech. This was a very hard read for me. Yes, the story was good I suppose. But all the baseball talk and terms was so annoying, or not annoying exactly, more time consuming to read and try to figure them all out. I mean, the last game of the book, yes, the championship game, was basically a play by play of all hits, up to bats, catches, every single play. Some of which I didn't understand, but I knew the main character and his team would have to be the winners, that's just how it usually comes out in kids' books. My thoughts are that this is so bogged down in baseball specifics and terminology that it won't be a popular hit among many readers. Yes, I know there are lots of kids out there who play sports. I also know that a lot of those kids aren't really big readers either, so you've cut down quite a bit on who will read the book. Now, that's just my opinion, I could be completely wrong. I just don't feel the story was strong enough outside of the baseball stuff that it will be a big hit on the Truman list.

The pattern I mentioned in my last blog about sports books is that the main characters are really good at whatever sport they play, but not THE best one on the team, they have a person who is their competition. The other thing is that their dads always seem to be former "really good athletes" who went on to do something other than sports because of an injury, or something else, and you can tell that the dad misses their sport and that affects their relationship with their athletic child. Now, I've really only read 2 sports books, so I guess I don't have that big of a scope to judge from, but I know there are a couple in the Mark Twain books I'll be reading soon, so I'll have to keep that in mind as I read those later and compare my thoughts when I blog about them.

Only 2 more on the Truman list to go!! Next is Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman. I've seen a couple books by Shusterman that looked interesting, this one was not one that jumped out. It is actually a sequel, and I'm assuming I'll be able to read it without reading the first one? I'll be sure to post my opinion on whether I'm missing something by reading this way when I blog in a couple days about it.

Book Review 22: The Rule of Won by Stefan Petrucha

Wow, I have to say I REALLY liked this book. It's basically kind of a spoof on the book "The Secret". Where it says if you want something bad enough, and you picture yourself with it, and write about wanting it, etc, that you'll get it. I personally know this is a load of crap as I've been trying to get a library job for about 5 years now, and I've pictured myself over and over and over in a library and I'm still stuck in a classroom teaching science, as well as all the daydreaming I do about David Cook, and yet I'll never really end up with him.

It starts that a boy named Ethan actually has a sister who can make things happen by drawing pictures. No one knows this, but they all buy in when things that they agree to wish for together start happening, the funding for a new school gym, the basketball team wins a game. Caleb is the main character though actually, and he is a slacker. Doesn't want to have to work hard for anything. His ex-girlfriend, Vicky, is running for Student Council president, and convinces him to join giving him the impression it'll help him get back with her. Soon, things happen to cause their wishes to come true that don't seem right. One girl wants to pass her algebra test, so they wish for everyone to pass it, and a teacher has a car accident. Other bad things happen like this. And it turns out, that someone may be causing these things to happen, only it might not be Ethan's little sister.

It reminds me a bit of the book The Wave, in how all the students get so sucked into it that they'll be violent to those who don't agree or participate. It even gets teachers and the already lousy principal involved. The girl who wished to pass the test, tries to kill herself because of the teacher getting in an accident.

This was a great book, and I will recommend it to many students.

My next book is another sports book, Big Field by Mike Lupica. And after the last sports book I read, Boost, I'm seeing a bit of a pattern in sports books. Ones I probably haven't seen before because I normally don't choose to read them. I'll talk more about that pattern in my blog about that book when I finish it.

I'm almost done with Truman list, only 3 more to go, then I'll be on to Mark Twain.