Haunting at Home Plate

August 24, 2000
Gr 3-7-After Gannon Conger's father, the coach of the Dodgers, is suspended from the Southshore Little League for unsportsmanlike behavior, Nelson talks his college-aged cousin Mike (short for Michele) into taking over the team. However, the one bad thing about losing abusive Mr. Conger is losing the team's best player and their friend, Gannon, who has been forced by his dad to switch to a new team. Mike tells the Dodgers about Andy Kirk, who, more than 50 years ago, died when he fell out of a giant cedar tree where he sat perched watching his older brother hit in the winning run. Soon cryptic messages initialed AK crop up around the baseball diamond. Whoever is leaving them loves baseball and has some very definite and good advice, and everyone wonders if they've been left by Andy's ghost. It doesn't take long for the team to play like a well-oiled machine and ultimately the Dodgers take on Gannon's team in the championship game. This story is packed with action and suspense. The characters seem real and have a certain depth. Young readers who are interested in baseball and like a good mystery will find this title hard to beat.-Barb Lawler, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2000
Gr. 4-7. Most baseball yarns achieve suspense by recounting the runs, errors, steals, and near-misses of the game. Patneaude's latest includes all of the above, in addition to a ghost who seems to be coaching the teem by leaving messages on the playing field. Twelve-year-old Nelson and his team, the Dodgers, are having a rough season after losing one of their star players and their coach. But the players regroup when Nelson's 19-year-old cousin Mike is recruited as the coach. Mike, who happens to be a female with a no-nonsense approach to the game, pulls the group together. As the team coalesces, Nelson emerges as a powerful pitcher, and the mystery of the messages left on the playing field deepens. Patneaude punches up the story with play-by-plays that rival the commentary of a real-life sports announcer. Fans of baseball and of stories about the paranormal will get their fill from this absorbing novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)