Idiosyncratic request.
I have a relative (son of my cousin, so I don't actually know what that genealogical designation is) extremely interested in baseball and an absolute diehard fan of the game. They're reading like a 9-13yo (age higher, reading level lower).
They're struggling with math and reading but devour baseball and will happily and eagerly process – box scores, articles, etc. They engage with math and reading till your face turns blue if it's baseball. I know where to get any/all of that related to current MLB activity. Just mows through baseball content.
My question is: beyond ESPN game recaps, does anyone have recommendations for books for a 9-13 yo obsessed with baseball?
My gut tells me a kid having a hard time with math and reading should lean into topics that align with their interest to get engagement, but I just don't have any books I know in this space.
Help?
by Key_Piccolo_2187
6 Comments
Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella is ‘officially’ for 9th grade and up but might work for you!
*Last Days of Summe*r by Steve Kluger is a fantastic book. It does have a bittersweet ending, so if your nephew is sensitive to that I wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s hilarious and heartwarming. It’s also told entirely in letters, newspaper clippings, etc. so that might be a little less intimidating to a struggling reader. Another baseball-centered kids’ book that I’ve heard is good is *The Rhino in Right Field* by Stacy DeKeyser.
Edit: I just thought of something else – I don’t have any specific titles to recommend for this category, but there are thousands of biographies of famous athletes aimed at kids reading at lower levels out there. It’s a pretty popular category because like you said, a lot of kids are willing to engage with a book if it’s about one of their interests.
Mike Lupica and Clair Bee both have several novels centering around baseball (and every other major popular sport) mainly geared toward this kid’s age group!
*Summerland* by Michael Chabon. A boy of about the same age plays baseball and falls through to another dimension where all disputes are settled by baseball. One is in its 700+ inning. They meet a little girl in jail who is in for suggesting the designated hitter rule (put there by her mother, the queen). It’s been years since I read it but it’s funny and touching and very baseball.
*Summerland* by Michael Chabon. A boy of about the same age plays baseball and falls through to another dimension where all disputes are settled by baseball. One is in its 700+ inning. They meet a little girl in jail who is in for suggesting the designated hitter rule (put there by her mother, the queen). It’s been years since I read it but it’s funny and touching and very baseball.
*Summerland* by Michael Chabon. A boy of about the same age plays baseball and falls through to another dimension where all disputes are settled by baseball. One is in its 700+ inning. They meet a little girl in jail who is in for suggesting the designated hitter rule (put there by her mother, the queen). It’s been years since I read it but it’s funny and touching and very baseball.