Roy Morelli Steps Up to the Plate

April 19, 2010
Sermon swamps story in Heldring's (Toby Wheeler: Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer) preachy novel about priorities and teamwork. The eponymous hero has his vision firmly fixed on high schoolâand becoming shortstop. But Roy has to pass eighth-grade history first, and his divorced parents decide he will sit out a season on the all-star team to concentrate on his grades. Roy's only baseball option is the low-key rec league team. Both Roy's history teacher and baseball coach are portrayed as imbecilesâhistory instruction consists of reading a chapter a night in the textbook then re-reading it aloud in class; the coach insists it's all about fun but doesn't notice team bullies picking on the smallest player. As cultural anthropology, it's a depressing portrait of modern American life: Roy's mother takes night classes, so he and his sisterâwhose conversations amount to insult exchangesâsullenly share dinners like "mac 'n' cheese with peas and salad out of a bag." Roy does nothing to undermine the dumb jock stereotype when, rather than study, he embraces his classmate's strategy for multiple-choice tests: "It's never, ever the same letter twice in a row." Ages 9-12.

February 1, 2010
Gr 6-9-Eighth-grader Roy Morelli is looking forward to playing on an elite all-star baseball team as a means of impressing the high school coach and enhancing his chances of starting on the varsity as a freshman. When his history grade slips, however, his parents make him drop down to a less competitive, less demanding rec-league team, where none of the other players seem to care about winning. Roy alienates his teammates with his aggressive style and know-it-all attitude and gets in trouble at home for his continued apathetic approach toward his studies. When his divorced father's girlfriend becomes his tutor, Roy is initially resentful, but eventually comes to appreciate the way she makes history come alive. He is able to apply the lessons he has learned both to improve his history grade and to mend relationships with his teammates. While somewhat predictable, the novel features good characterization and some sizzling dialogue, especially between Roy and his frenemy, Valerie Hopkins. The game action is fast paced and exciting, the depiction of middle school dynamics rings true, and the main character shows genuine emotional growth over the course of the novel."Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2010
Grades 4-6 In this uncomplicated tale, poor grades trip up a talented but arrogant eighth-grader destined (or so he thinks) to play for the local All-Star and high-school baseball teams. Bored to tears in history class and on the verge of failing, Roy is nonetheless outraged when his divorced parents pull him out of all baseballexcept the wretched weekend rec leagueand saddle him with a tutor, who also happens to be his Dads new girlfriend. Roys bad attitude gets him off on the wrong foot with the tutor, his fellow tutee Valerie, and his irritatingly casual new teammates, but as common sense replaces ego he slowly both acquires better study habits and gets away from being a bossy showboat on the playing field. By the end hes turned his grades and his relationship with Valerie around, and learned to be a team player. Though Heldrings characters provide plenty of behavioral lectures and obvious role-modeling, Roys new wisdom and study skills are realistically hard-won, and the baseball action is compelling enough to keep Matt Christopher grads interested.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)