Safe at home : a Comeback Kids novel / Mike Lupica.

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Title:

Safe at home : a Comeback Kids novel / Mike Lupica.

Author:

Lupica, Mike

ISBN:

9780399247163

Publication Information:

New York : Philomel Books, c2008.

Physical Description:

175 p. ; 20 cm.

Series:

Comeback Kids

Abstract:

Playing baseball was the one thing that made twelve-year-old Nick Crandall feel at home until he found acceptance with adoptive parents, but he faces a new struggle to fit in when he becomes the first seventh-grader ever to make the varsity baseball team.

Reading Level:

009-011.

Subject Term:

Baseball -- Juvenile fiction.

Self-confidence -- Juvenile fiction.

Teamwork (Sports) -- Juvenile fiction.

Schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Orphans -- Juvenile fiction.

Adoption -- Juvenile fiction.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Juvenile Fiction Book Hardback	120791001810908	J LUP	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

#1 New York Times bestseller Mike Lupica continues his tribute to the underdog in his Comeback Kids series for young middle-grade readers

Nick Crandall feels like he doesn't belong anywhere. He never has felt like he belongs, really. He doesn't fit in this new family with his new foster parents, both of whom are professors. They don't know the first thing about sports, and he's not exactly a model student. It's only a matter of time until they realize he's not the right kid for them. And Nick certainly doesn't belong playing varsity baseball. He's only twelve years old! His teammates want a catcher their own age, not some kid. But Nick needs to prove something. He needs to prove that he belongs--to his parents, to his team, and to himself.

Praise for the Comeback Kids:

"Lupica portrays the action clearly and vividly, with a real sense of the excitement and unpredictable nature of the games. These are worthy additions to collections seeking to draw in middle-grade boys with an enthusiasm for athletics." -- School Library Journal

"These should score big with middle-graders looking for alternatives to Matt Christopher's titles." -- Publisher's Weekly

"This title is a good choice for reluctant readers with a background in baseball." -- School Library Journal

Reviews (1)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-7-Nick Crandall, a seventh grader, is looking forward to being the star catcher of his junior varsity baseball team. However, when the varsity team catcher is injured, Nick must suit up behind the plate with the eighth graders. Frustrated by Nick's presence, the team members go to great lengths to make the boy feel unwelcome. Nick cracks under the pressure. As with most Mike Lupica novels, Nick's home life plays a significant role in this installment (Philomel, 2008) in the series. The fact that Nick is adopted, and that his parents are both professors with little interest in sports, are burdens for Nick to bear. Predictably, Nick saves the day at the big game, and even finds a way to connect with his dad, all within a few weeks. This title is a good choice for reluctant readers with a background in baseball, as not all terminology is explained. Keith Nobbs's narration helps to build tension and excitement. While Nick's emotional intelligence is a bit advanced for his age, it allows the story to move at a rapid pace. For boys and girls who have outgrown novels by Matt Christopher.-Richelle Roth, Boone County Public Library, Florence, KY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Excerpts

1 More than anything, Nick Crandall's real family had always been baseball. He'd always felt that way about the teams he'd played on, since his first T-ball team. And he felt that way about the teams in the majors he followed, usually the ones with the best catchers, because Nick was a catcher, too. Baseball was the only thing that made Nick feel like he really belonged. There were a lot of reasons why he loved baseball season, but that was the biggest. Maybe everybody else on junior varsity at the Hayworth School, all the other sixth and seventh-graders on the team, looked at the calendar and thought the school year was coming to an end. Not Nick. As far as he was concerned, everything was just beginning. School baseball was for the spring, and that was his only team in the spring, because Paul and Brenda Crandall had one rule about sports: one team per season. Even that was all right with Nick. He got to play school ball every day except on the weekends, and he could look forward to playing in their town's summer Little League from the end of June into August. So when he looked at the calendar, all he could see was baseball, practically all the way until school started again in the fall. It was the first week of tryouts for JV, even though hardly anybody thought of them as tryout tryouts, because everybody who came out made the team. Some guys did get cut off varsity, made up of eighth- and ninth-graders, depending on how many came out. But even those guys, no matter how old they were, got moved down to JV if they still wanted to play. Nobody moved up, though. You didn't get to play varsity at Hayworth until you were in eighth. Nobody was sure if it was an official written-down rule. But if you played sports at Hayworth, and everybody had to play at least one, you knew that's how things were done. Nick didn't care. No way did he care. He was in no rush to play varsity, anyway. The varsity catcher, Bobby Mazzilli, was graduating with the rest of his class in June. So in Nick's mind, a mind filled with baseball stuff the way his desk drawers were filled with baseball cards and magazines, next year he had a good shot at being varsity catcher. That was no sure thing, of course, even though things seemed to be set up just right for him. Because more than anything he knew about baseball, Nick knew this: There were no sure things in your life. Excerpted from Safe at Home by Mike Lupica All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.