There is only one thing Felix wants more than to become a professional baseball player. That is for his father to join him and his mother in Florida and be able to join a major league baseball team himself. Felix and his mother fled Cuba when Felix was a baby. His father, a Cuban baseball star, gave up his place on the boat so that Felix could be free. That is all Felix's mother has told him. Felix would give anything for his father to see him play. His mother works constantly and Felix feels she doesn't support his baseball dreams. One day, Felix sneaks into a baseball team's locker room and is mistaken for their batboy. What a chance! Felix stows away on their bus to live his dream, if only for one day. Will his mother ever forgive him? The drama is intense as Felix is in for surprises, not always pleasant, about his father, his mother, and himself.

Similar books: Boy Who Saved Baseball by John Ritter; Heat by Mike Lupica

Reviewed by: vfv

Date read: 8/18/2010

ISBN-10: 0525471200

ISBN-13: 9780525471202

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Joe and John Henry were the best of friends. Together they shelled butter beans, shot marbles, and swam in Fiddler's Creek. They loved playing and eating ice pops together. But there was one important difference between Joe and John Henry. Being white, Joe was permitted to go into any store, eat at any restaurant, and swim in the town's swimming pool. However, John Henry was black. Growing up in the south during the 1960's meant that he wasn't allowed to go and do most of the things his best friend could. The town's swimming pool was strictly off limits to him. Joe and John Henry had high hopes when they heard that due to the Civil Rights Act of 1964; they would finally be able to swim together at the town's pool. Their hopes were soon dashed when they saw the senseless filling of the pool with tar. This was done to prevent EVERYONE from using it. They soon realized that it takes more than changing the law to make things fair; it takes a changing of hearts. In Deborah Wile's, 'Freedom Summer', we see racism through the eyes of two young boys and witness their determination 'to make things right'.

Similar authors: Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert; Pat McKissack; Jacqueline Woodson

Similar books: Papa's Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert; Goin' Someplace Special by Pat McKissack; The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson; Coolies by Yin; Pop's Bridge by Eve Bunting

Reviewed by: mb

Date read: 8/1/2011

ISBN-10: 0689830165

ISBN-13: 9780689830167

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Did you know that some women in ancient Rome drank turpentine because it made their urine smell like roses? Did you also know that pee was actually one of our first soaps? This book is filled with facts like these. You probably won't think about pee in quite the same way again after reading this book.

Reviewed by: jb

Date read: 10/9/2010

ISBN-10: 067006064X

ISBN-13: 9780670060641

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In the midst of a backyard camp-out, 10-year-old Matt, and four other children, find themselves transported back into the time of George Washington, and the American Revolution, where they begin to live out American history firsthand.

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 3/27/2009

ISBN-10: 0785701923

ISBN-13: 9780785701927

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Twelve-year-old Ben, son of the town sheriff, is walking around with a curse on his head. In fact, his entire family is cursed. When murderer Jake Burnett was sentenced to hang, he warned the judge, the foreman of the jury, the deputy and the sheriff that he would come back and get them, and their families too. Now, a gypsy's prediction seems to be coming true- the coffins in the graveyard, including Jake's, are rising up out of the ground due to days of torrential rain. When the jury foreman turns up dead, everyone is convinced that Jake has returned to fulfill his curse. But, what can Ben do against a dead man?

Reviewed by: vverscaj

Date read: 10/10/2009

ISBN-10: 0761450157

ISBN-13: 9780761450153

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