Top of the Order

March 16, 2009
Coy (Box Out
) brings his successful combination of relatable characters and sports action to his middle-grade debut. Jackson Kennedy, the affable fifth-grade narrator, lives for baseball. Playing shortstop for his school team helps take the sting off his troubles at home and school: divorced parents, a newly dating mom and middle-school worries about eighth-graders who “make you drink a Coke so fast, you hurl in the garbage can.” Jackson and his team have high hopes for the coming season until Sydney—his best friend Gig's sister—shows up to play second base (with her pink glove, no less). Jackson mentally wrestles with this as most boys his age would: she's a good player and the team needs her, but she's still a girl. Coy does a good job keeping his story grounded in the concerns that kids this age would have, and his characters—such as Gig, the goofball whose dad is about to be shipped to Afghanistan, and G-Man, Jackson's baseball-loving grandpa—are appealing and true to life. Young baseball fans will enjoy the infield banter, Gig's corn-dogs-up-the-nose antics and the grand slam ending. Ages 8–12.

March 1, 2009
Gr 3-6-Jackson approaches the end of fifth grade with mixed feelings: he's ready for middle school, but word is that eighth graders make life miserable for the incoming class. It's May, though, and now he's looking forward to baseball. The team has some great players, but is down a second baseman, and if one can't be found, the season is going to have to be forfeited. When Gig's sister shows up at practice, Gig is furious. But Sydney quickly shows her stuff, leaving Jackson in a quandary. Does he support Gig by trying to pressure her to quit the team, or does he put his feelings for the team ahead of their friendship? To further complicate matters, Jackson and his brother are shuffled back and forth between their divorced parents' households, and his mother is dating again. The adults in his life want him to challenge himself. Can't they see that his life is already full of challenges? Coy effortlessly captures the voices of boys on the verge of adolescence. Jackson and his friends are fully developed. Gig's perception of his sister as always showing him up comes through clearly, and when he tells Jackson, "Baseball was the one place I didn't have to deal with her. Now she wants to wreck that, too," students will appreciate the dilemma. Gripping play-by-play and a fast-moving plot will appeal to sports enthusiasts and reluctant readers.Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

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