Home Run

December 15, 2015
Josh struggles at home and at the plate in this fourth installment of the Baseball Great series. Buddy and loose cannon Benji is back with more crazy ideas and antics, while Jaden continues her quest for sports journalistic greatness. Josh's father's girlfriend, Diane, has faded into the background, and he suddenly wants to pursue his own coaching and recruiting career, dragging Josh with him to Florida from the Syracuse home Josh shares with his mother and baby sister. When his mother loses her job, Josh becomes fixated on a national Home Run Derby that is open to kids in fall ball who hit 20 home runs. The ball not only has to go over the fence, but land in a bathtub and stay there, with the prize a house built by the sponsors, Qwik-E-Builders. The kids' friendship becomes increasingly important as Josh's parents squabble over custody and child support, and each has his or her own challenge. Benji is dogged by his new coach to get in shape, Jaden wants to win a journalism contest, and Josh struggles with a hitting slump as well as the distance and hostility that separate his family. Any sports fiction fan who wants plenty of play-by-play will find it here, along with some coaching tips and an exploration of the influence of big business on kids' sports. Solid series fare. (Fiction. 10-14)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2016

Gr 5-8-Josh's world has been turned upside down. After one of his baseball games, Josh's father announces that he has quit coaching the team and will be moving to Florida for his job. The absence of his father forces Josh and the rest of his family to move into a run down apartment that's a far cry from the house he grew up in. At the suggestion of his best friends, Josh enters a local home run derby where the winner gets a new house. Fans of Green's previous works will recognize his familiar yet appealing story of family issues and edge of your seat sports thrills. Young readers coming on board for the first time will have no issues following the story as it stands on its own. In all, a rousing yet heartwarming story.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
Only die-hard Green fans will slog their way through this installment. The characters' repetitive squabbling is tiresome, there's precious little baseball writing, and Green's attempts at humor revolve around overeating and immoderate braggadocio. Unresolved plot points, such as the mysterious military history of the protagonist's new coach, serve mostly as indications that Green isn't finished writing this series.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)