Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge

This is a surprising little book. Is it a surprise that it's about baseball? or more surprisingly that it's a novel in verse? Can the two really be compatible? No, has to be No. But that's the surprise how well the two subjects - baseball and poetry, work together (I guess it's no wonder Casey at the Bat is a classic).

So this is the story of Kevin, MVP, first baseman, stuck at home with a bad case of "Monouglyosis" just as baseball season is getting started. He's worried about losing his position on the team to another player, he's worried about what the girls at school are saying about him, he's worried that his friends are forgetting him, he's worried that the memory of his Mom is starting to fade, and he's worried that if his writing poetry will change everything.

here are a few of the poems I really liked.
How do you do, Haiku, Pantoum for Mom, and A Poem for Poetry.
Read ON

Samurai shortstop

Samurai shortstop by Alan Gratz

From the back cover-

From his first day at boarding school, Toyo Shimada sees how upperclassmen make a sport out of terrorizing the first-years. Still, he's taken aback when the seniors keep him from trying out for their baseball team - especially after he sees their current shortstop. Toyo isn't afraid to prove himself; he's more troubled by his uncle's recent suicide. Although Uncle Koji's defiant death was supposedly heroic, it has made Toyo question many things about his family's samurai background. And worse, Toyo fears that his father may be next. It all has something to do with bushido- the way of the warrior- but Toyo doesn't understand even after his father agrees to teach it to him. As the gulf between them grows wider, Toyo searches desperately for a way to prove there is a place for his family's samurai values in modern Japan. Baseball might be the answer, but will his father ever accept a "Western" game that stands for everything he despises?

From the opening sentence I was hooked. The rest of the chapter was just as gripping. And from there I just kept liking the book more and more.

I learned a lot about the time of transition for Japan, how moving from a feudal system to a modern one was more than difficult - as politics, religion and western influences pushed people into finding a new Japanese identity. How for Toyo's uncle (a samurai) this change was impossible.

Toyo is a memorable character. He's a student, he's a friend, he's a leader. He understands the samurai spirit and brings this knowledge to his friends and teammates and also applies it when being bullied, to understanding his relationship with his father, or out on the baseball field and you get the sense it will stay with him for life.

The baseball moments of the story are also worth the read. It's no wonder the Japanese have guys playing in the American League and winning world championship little league tournaments. After reading this book I get the connection and see the long history baseball has in Japan.

I thought it was a great read, and has terrific curriculum tie-ins.