MARCH 2013: Free Baseball by Sue Corbett - Batter up...a great sports read for girls and boys.

“The place on earth Felix Piloto loved the best was a spot of red dirt two-thirds of the way toward third from second. Deep in the hole, his body folded nearly in half, his mitt dangling so close to the ground it blocked its own shadow.” pg.1 Free Baseball
 
Felix and his mother escaped from Cuba when Felix was just a baby, leaving behind his famous father, Claudio de la Portilla, left fielder for the Cuban National Baseball Team. As Felix grew-up he always believed his father would join them in Florida and become a professional baseball player. But as a sixth grader, and the best infielder for the Splasher’s Pool City Tigers, Felix begins to wonder when his father will come and why his mother never wants to talk about it. When Felix wins two tickets to the East Naples Egrets opening day game against a minor league team from West Lauderdale, called The Miracle, he decides to take his baseball dreams into his own hands. Since his mom is working late, like she always does, Felix has to go to the game with Maryann, his grumpy babysitter. After the game Felix goes down to the field, with all the other kids in the stands, to run the bases … "When he reached third, he slid into the base, sending up a plume of rust-colored dust. He stood and brushed himself off. Then instead of turning for home, he trotted to the dugout." (pg. 24) In the dugout, Felix is mistaken for a batboy and helps the visiting Mircale load up their dirty uniforms and equipment onto the bus, but in a last minute decision, Felix loads himself onto the bus also.
 
A day later Felix is 90 minutes south in West Lauderdale, is mistaken for The Miracle’s new bat boy, meets a dog named Homer who wears a baseball jersey and has seen tomato’s growing in the bullpen. To find out what happens to Felix, and how some dreams do come true, read Free Baseball by Sue Corbett.
 
Baseball is this librarian's favorite sport - GO TRIBE!!! - and it's that time of year! Spring training down in Arizona is underway and before we know it the lights at Progressive Field will be shining, the bats will be swinging and hopefully the Indians will be winning. But until then a great baseball book will have to do, check out these exciting stories about the great American pastime:

A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
Baseball Great by Tim Green
Rivals by Tim Green
Best of the Best by Tim Green
The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles
The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John Ritter
Baseball Card Adventure (series) by Dan Gutman
Plunked by Michael Northrop
 
Click on any of the titles above and you will be sent to their record in the library catalog where you can see if the book is available or put a hold on it.