The Way Home Looks Now

Starred review from March 2, 2015
A grieving Chinese-American family begins to find strength and healing through a shared passion for baseball in this warm, hopeful novel set in 1972. Twelve-year-old Peter longs for the days in “the Before,” when his older brother, Nelson, taught him how to throw a palm ball and they listened to Pittsburgh Pirates games on the radio with their mother. Everything changes when Nelson is killed in a car accident: Peter’s mother disengages from the family, leaving him and his father, Ba, to hold things together for younger sister Laney. Peter believes that joining a Little League team could help make “the After” more bearable for all of them, a goal that’s put to the test when Ba comes aboard as coach. Shang (The Great Wall of Lucy Wu) skillfully balances the different aspects of Peter’s life, robustly characterizing his friendships and his time at school and home. Issues of sexism, racism, and struggles with depression are handled deftly in scenarios grounded in reality, including an ending that’s hopeful without being pat. Ages 8–12. Agent: Quinlan Lee, Adams Literary.

Starred review from February 1, 2015
Twelve-year-old Peter Lee hopes that baseball might help his grieving mother regain a measure of interest and happiness in life. The last best day Peter can remember as a family, before his bright, athletic brother was killed in a car accident, was the occasion of Taiwan's thrilling victory in the Little League World Series. It's 1972, and his father had been hard on college-age Nelson, whose ideals occasionally clashed with those of his Chinese-born father. But Nelson's death turns everything upside down. Peter and younger sister Elaine are helpless before their mother's silence and depression. Peter lets almost everything go, including school and friendships, until he grasps at something he believes he can offer his mother: baseball. When Ba, as Peter calls his father, steps up to coach Peter's team, Peter learns to his astonishment that not only does his father know the game, but he also has depths of courage and fairness Peter had not realized, even in the face of occasional, casual bigotry. His father offers support to a boy on the team who is bullied at home, and he finds a way to let another talented player stay with the team. The first-person narration is smooth and believable. This is a fine story of family, loss, growing up and learning to play baseball, raised to a higher level by gracefully incorporated themes of feminism and kindness. (Historical fiction. 9-13)

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March 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-Twelve-year-old Peter just wants his home to be the way it was before-before his mother stopped talking, before she started sitting on the couch staring at the TV, and before his older brother died in a car accident. Peter's father is a strict Chinese immigrant who stresses homework, emphasizes respect for authority, and forbids baseball. Peter's mother and siblings loved the sport before his brother died; now baseball is no longer played or even talked about in the family. Peter becomes convinced that the way to get his mother back is to join Little League and play baseball again. He persuades his father to allow him to play, but during tryouts so many children show up that another coach is needed and Peter's father volunteers. This stressful dynamic shows Peter a different side of his father, a man who is mourning his son, loves his family, knows a lot about baseball, and believes in fairness. Peter is a fully realized character, but the rest of his family and most of the players on his team fall flat. VERDICT Though the plot occasionally gets bogged down with too many side stories, this heartwarming story is still a worthy purchase.-Lisa Nabel, Dayton Metro Library, OH

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2015
Grades 4-7 It may be 1972, but for Peter Lee, everything falls into two categories: before, when the family bonded over baseball and Peter's older brother was still alive; and after. Now Peter's mother doesn't leave the couch or talk to anyone, school seems impossible, and the family is falling apart. Perhaps baseball can bring them together again? Peter decides to go out for a Little League team, but he is horror-struck when his firm Chinese father is made the coach and the other kids on the team don't seem talented. Slowly, though, the team makes progress under Coach Lee's drills and pitcher Aaron's contagious enthusiasm, coming together until it is discovered that Aaron is actually Erin. Then the players must remember what they love about baseball. Readers will cheer Peter on as his love for his family drives him to persevere at home and on the field. Parallels between home plate and home as place abound as grief completes its work and relationships are restored. Interwoven with cultural ties to both Peter's Chinese heritage and to the women's liberation movement, this touching novel shows the importance of patienceand baseball.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)