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protoman21's review against another edition
5.0
Being a huge baseball fan and a kid who grew up keeping score myself, this was a special kind of book for me. Not only did we get to see the love of the game perfectly captured, complete with the soaring victories and mind-numbing defeats, but I got to revisit all of the old feelings of keeping score in a notebook and writing down and calculating stats.
readwithpassion's review
3.0
9-year-old Maggie-O learns to keep score for baseball games from Jim, a fireman that works with her father. It is a book that educates kids of score keeping, the Korean War, and PTSD, and I think it treats the topics in a way that is sensitive to the young audience it is directed to. I would recommend this one for kids aged 8-11. I love baseball, but it might not go over well with kids who don't enjoy the sport.
lorathelibrarian's review
4.0
This was a story told about baseball and the Korean war. The two elements were beautifully intertwined to create this wonderful historical fiction novel. This is a book that can appeal to sports lovers (especially all the technical baseball facts given), but it also focuses strongly on family relationships and the history behind the Korean war.
Maggie is a girl in Brooklyn who loves the Dodgers. She meets a the firefighter at her father's old firehouse named Jim. Jim teachers Maggie how to score a baseball game and a friendship begins. Park follows Maggie over the course of three years as her love for baseball, the Dodgers, Willie Mays, and her friendship with Jim grows. When Jim is sent to Korea and Maggie begins writing to him. Then one day his responses stop. Maggie then sets out on a series of plans to help and bring home Jim.
Maggie is a girl in Brooklyn who loves the Dodgers. She meets a the firefighter at her father's old firehouse named Jim. Jim teachers Maggie how to score a baseball game and a friendship begins. Park follows Maggie over the course of three years as her love for baseball, the Dodgers, Willie Mays, and her friendship with Jim grows. When Jim is sent to Korea and Maggie begins writing to him. Then one day his responses stop. Maggie then sets out on a series of plans to help and bring home Jim.
turrean's review against another edition
You really have to love baseball to enjoy this book. I am not a sports fan, and I could barely get through the pages that described, at great length, how to score a ballgame. Another member of my family, a baseball fan, loved this book.
I just can't assign a fair rating, so I won't try!
I just can't assign a fair rating, so I won't try!
kbrogden's review
I did enjoy this book and even though it is a teen book, it taught me some information about the Korean War. I really enjoyed how the author intertwined baseball but not in a way that made me feel like I knew nothing.
kmg365's review
3.0
I enjoyed this book, which highlights a time when baseball truly was the National Pastime. I was a little disappointed when we left the baseball and joined the Korean War (already in progress), and really scratched my head about the religious elements, because Maggie seemed to view her religion as all ritual and superstition. "If I do these things, in this order, my friend will be okay." It gets all tangled up with baseball superstitions-- "if my brother wears the same shirt for 10 days without washing it, my team will win", and by the end I'm really wondering if she sees any difference between the two.
But-- it was well written, and it was lovely to see a sports book with a female protagonist, and I enjoyed the "period piece" elements as well. The reader of the audio book had a lovely Brooklyn accent that made me want to go find and egg cream and a nice pastrami sandwich.
But-- it was well written, and it was lovely to see a sports book with a female protagonist, and I enjoyed the "period piece" elements as well. The reader of the audio book had a lovely Brooklyn accent that made me want to go find and egg cream and a nice pastrami sandwich.
rysewykreads's review against another edition
2.0
I heard some really good things about this book, but honestly I was a little disappointed. It seemed very choppy. First we talk about baseball. Then we get interested in the Korean war. Then we try to use baseball to heal wounds left from war. It just didn't seem to flow as nicely as I would have liked. At the same time, it would be a great introduction to the Korean War for middle grade students. It gives just enough facts to explain the gist of what happened and there's enough baseball to make it seem like not as much of a history lesson.
kcadd44's review
2.0
No good. Way too slow for a kids' books. I have a hard time believing most kids would finish this book.
k_lee_reads_it's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was going to be rather boring, after all baseball is a slow sport and about my least favorite. But it got good toward the end.
tcbueti's review
4.0
This seemed poky until the stunner of a reveal of why Jim stopped writing back.
Note-keeping Maggie, after scoring/recording baseball games, studies the Korean "conflict" so she can understand what her friend Jim is going through--years and the border doesn't move--so many people killed. Not officially a war?
My main concern is that the author characterizes the event that breaks Jim as friendly fire--but it was a straight up massacre by American soldiers: No Gun Ri.: 3 days of air bombing and shooting any South Korean refugees who approached American lines. Brief research indicates that the Korean War had probably the highest civilian casualties of any American war.
So although I think it is admirable for the author to write about it, I sort of wish she had been clearer about it, but also: it is a pretty big swerve for a baseball novel. In her afterward she notes that her parents were teenagers in Korea during the war. Pretty powerful.
Note-keeping Maggie, after scoring/recording baseball games, studies the Korean "conflict" so she can understand what her friend Jim is going through--years and the border doesn't move--so many people killed. Not officially a war?
My main concern is that the author characterizes the event that breaks Jim as friendly fire--but it was a straight up massacre by American soldiers: No Gun Ri.: 3 days of air bombing and shooting any South Korean refugees who approached American lines. Brief research indicates that the Korean War had probably the highest civilian casualties of any American war.
So although I think it is admirable for the author to write about it, I sort of wish she had been clearer about it, but also: it is a pretty big swerve for a baseball novel. In her afterward she notes that her parents were teenagers in Korea during the war. Pretty powerful.