The Contract

August 4, 2014
Eight-year-old Derek Jeter has a lofty dream: to play shortstop for the New York Yankees. While his friends and even his teacher belittle his goal, Derek’s parents’ mantra is “you can do anything you want in life, if you work hard enough and stick with it.” They put together a contract for Derek—its rules include “Respect Others,” “Respect Yourself,” and “Work Hard”—which is predictably tested when Derek is assigned to a Little League coach who favors his own son to the detriment of the team. There’s a noble message in this series opener and first title from star shortstop Jeter’s publishing imprint, but it’s delivered too cleanly. Derek is a picture-perfect kid (with picture-perfect parents), a third grader who constantly takes the moral high road and reasons things like, “He knew his dad was only trying to teach him a valuable lesson.” Knowing the (real-life) outcome of Jeter’s story helps offset the book’s lesson-in-disguise qualities, but it may be hard for readers to find common ground with a character who always makes the right decisions. Ages 8–12.