BASEBALL - Fiction Suggestions

All the Way Home, by Patricia Reilly Giff
In 1941, circumstances bring together Brick, a boy from New York's apple country, and Mariel, a young girl made shy by her bout with polio, and the two make a journey from Brooklyn back to help Brick's elderly neighbors save their apple crop and to help Mariel learn about her past.
New York: Delacorte, c2001, 169 p.

The Boy Who Saved Baseball, by John H. Ritter
The fate of a small California town rests on the outcome of one baseball game, and Tom Gallagher hopes to lead his team to victory with the secrets of the now disgraced player, Dante Del Gato. (Lexile 660)
New York: Philomel Books, c2003, 216 p.

The Crazy Horse Electric Game, by Chris Crutcher
A high school athlete, frustrated at being disabled after an accident, runs away from home to Oakland, California, and is helped back to mental and physical health by a Black benefactor and the people in a special school where he enrolls.
(Lexile 870)
Greenwillow Books, copyright 1987, 215p.

Free Radical, by Claire Rudolf Murphy
In Fairbanks, Alaska, in the middle of the summer Little League baseball season, fifteen-year-old Luke is stunned when his mother confesses that she is wanted by the FBI for her role in the death of a student during an anti-Vietnam War protest thirty years ago. (Lexile 640)
New York: Clarion Books, 2002, 198 p.

Gold Dust, by Chris Lynch
In 1975, twelve-year-old Richard befriends Napolean, a Caribbean newcomer to his Catholic school, hoping that Napoleon will learn to love baseball and the Red Sox, and will win acceptance in the racially polarized Boston school. (Lexile 690)
New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, copyright 2000, 196 p.

High Heat, by Carl Deuker
When sophomore Shane Hunter's father is arrested for money laundering at his Lexus dealership, the star pitcher's life of affluence and private school begins to fall apart. (Lexile 620)
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, 277 p.

Joey Pigza Loses Control, by Jack Gantos
Joey, who is still taking medication to keep him from getting too wired, goes to spend the summer with the hard-drinking father he has never known and tries to help the baseball team he coaches win the championship. (Lexile 800)
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, copyright 2000, 195 p.

Mickey & Me: a Baseball Card Adventure, by Dan Gutman
When Joe travels back in time to 1944, he meets the Milwaukee Chicks, one of the only all-female professional baseball teams in the history of the game. (Lexile 630)
New York: HarperCollins, 2003, 160 p.

My Thirteenth Season, by Kristi Roberts
Already downhearted due to the loss of her mother and her father's overwhelming grief, thirteen-year-old Fran decides to give up her dream of becoming the first female in professional baseball after a coach attacks her just for being a girl.
New York: Henry Holt, 2005, 154 p.

Out Standing in My Field, by Patrick Jennings
Although fifth-grader Ty Cutter is named after baseball great Ty Cobb, he is the worst player on the Brewer's team--which happens to be coached by his overly-competitive father. (Lexile 730)
New York: Scholastic Press, c2005, 165 p.

Ruby Tuesday, by Jennifer Anne Kogler
The 1988 World Series win by the Los Angeles Dodgers sets off a chain of life-changing events for thirteen-year-old Ruby Tuesday as she travels to Las Vegas and learns some surprising truths about her family members and their careers as gamblers and musicians.
New York: HarperCollins, 2005, 307 p.

The Speed of Light, by Ron Carlson
Twelve-year-old Larry spends the summer before junior high school with his best friends, Witt and Rafferty, playing different forms of baseball and discovering the secrets of the universe.
New York: HarperTempest, c2003, 280 p.

Stealing Home, by Matt Christopher; Text by Paul Mantell
Joey is sure he will not get along with the exchange student from Nicaragua who is staying with his family for a year, but they find common ground on the baseball field.
New York: Little, Brown, c2004, 144 p.

Stumptown Kid, by Carol Gorman and Ron J. Findley
In a small Iowa town in 1952, eleven-year-old Charlie Nebraska, whose father died in the Korean War, learns the meanings of both racism and heroism when he befriends a black man who had played baseball in the Negro Leagues.
Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree, 2005, 224 p.

Summerland, by Michael Chabon
Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy. (Lexile 950)
New York: Talk Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children, 2002, 512 p.

The Truth About Twelve, by Theresa Martin Golding
Tremendously burdened by a secret guilt, twelve-year-old Lindy uses her skill at baseball to help her cope with a new school, scornful classmates, and complicated family problems.
Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 2004, 171 p.