Never Blame the Umpire

February 22, 2010
A summer baseball league and creative writing class, combined with a church community and family traditions like Friday night movies and popcorn, provide middle-school narrator Kate with supportive mentors, friends, and rituals while she faces devastating loss. Present-tense narration offers a sense of immediacy as Kate learns of her mother's cancer and, later, prepares for her death. Kate's poems, inspired by a variety of “starter activities,” give voice to her rage, confusion, and doubt. They also chronicle her changing perspective on what's important: while an early poem documents her disappointment that her parents missed her game-winning hit, a later one asks: “Why? It isn't fair. Isn't there/ a way to stop death?” In describing her faith in God's love and the peace she's attained as she faces death, Kate's mother equates acceptance of God's plan with a baseball player's acceptance of an umpire's call. While this analogy may feel simplistic and spark readers to ask more questions about why bad things happen to good people, the overarching message that love is stronger than death prevails in Fehler's (Beanball
) tender, engaging story. Ages 9–12.

November 1, 2010

Gr 4-6-Faith is a tricky thing; its demands are as great as its benefits and it is meaningless without adversity to test it. And so it is with Kate, whose happy, small-town life is upended with the news of her mother's terminal cancer. First-person-present narration takes the sensitive 11-year-old through the grieving process over the course of a summer, as baseball, a poetry workshop, and her mother's own strong faith in God teach and strengthen her. Fehler uses the workshop as a plot device to show Kate's interior growth, teaching readers something about the creative process as well. Kate is supported through her journey by a cast of wholesome characters who exemplify the Christian model and ring true despite their one-dimensionality. Her friend Ginny is an empathetic and talented actress; poet Allison is deep and spiritual; brother Cal's pest facade crumbles early on. The adults serve as examples to the children; Coach emphasizes team spirit, the poetry teacher is patient and perceptive, the dying mother inspires, while Dad holds the family together in tragedy. Fehler's world, populated by folks who care about one another and make good decisions, may seem archaic to readers who are used to young characters who act like cynical adults and adults who behave like children, but many people hold these standards as their own and will be moved and encouraged by this simple depiction of a faithful family in crisis.-Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick's Catholic School, Charlotte, NC

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