How Oscar Indigo Broke the Universe (And Put It Back Together Again)

August 1, 2017

Gr 3-5-Oscar cheers on his baseball team, the Wildcats, but his coach never puts him in the game. When he finally has a chance at bat against their rivals, he ends up using a powerful watch to stop time and hit a homerun. Oscar soon discovers that stealing time has broken the universe. To save the world, he must hit a bona fide home run and beat the other team, fair and square. The Wildcats is made up of a diverse line-up that includes players Kamran Singh, Bobby Farouk, and Oscar's new friend Lourdes Mangubat, whose family is from the Philippines. Lourdes is brave and athletic, and is one of many strong female characters. Oscar himself is humorous, supportive, and kind: he enjoys helping his elderly neighbor, Ethel Ellington, with chores. The game scenes are suspenseful, and the time travel plot is as logical as it is inventive, making this an accessible and entertaining read. Like many middle grade books, the story contains valuable life lessons: Oscar and Lourdes not only learn how to win gracefully, but how to play without fear of losing. VERDICT This sporty science fiction story's suspense, humor, and likeable characters give it broad appeal for middle grade readers.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017
Sweet-natured, warmhearted Oscar Indigo just wants to help his multiethnic baseball team win the championship. Oscar is no star player; in fact, he's a bench warmer who's never had a hit. He comes to possess a very powerful watch, one that can stop time. But when he uses it to freeze time for 19 seconds, enabling him to engineer a fake home run and become a hero, that small amount of lost time has astounding repercussions. There are flying dinosaurs, a tsunami, and, most frightening, a second sun appearing in the sky. Oscar must accomplish several tasks in order to reverse the trouble he has caused and avert further disaster. There are some wonderfully eccentric characters who aid him, including his teammate Lourdes, who becomes his friend and ally; octogenarian Miss Eleanor Ethel Ellington, who may have struck out Babe Ruth; and Dr. Smiley, the keeper of the universe. The fast-paced, totally engrossing tale is told with great attention to detail, pausing for flashbacks that allow Oscar to learn about and even witness events long past. He also deals with issues of bullying and cheating, all without losing his essential goodness. Teague weaves the tale with gentle expressions of teamwork, friendship, honesty, and compassion. Fantasy feels real, and it all works beautifully. The narrative is written with a white default, ethnicity conveyed in naming conventions; Lourdes, for instance, is implied to be Filipina-American. Suspend all disbelief and enjoy. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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October 1, 2017
Grades 5-8 Young, habitual benchwarmer Oscar learns in the worst way that actions have consequences, when he uses a very special pocket watch to stop time just long enough to fake a game-winning home run, and, whoa, creates a chronic rift that threatens to collapse the entire space-time continuum. As if the rough treatment Oscar gets from bullies on the rival West Mt. Edna Yankees isn't bad enough, the appearance of pterodactyls, trees with tentacles, and a second sun signal that time is well and truly out of joint. Is there a way for Oscar to repair the damage? Yes, though it will require traveling back in time to a game in 1935 and (about equally likely) hitting a home run for real. It's an arbitrary fix, but readers shouldn't have too much difficulty rolling with it, thanks to a plucky spirit and a motley assortment of allies led by superstar Filipino teammate Lourdes Mangubat. A mildly surreal tale, reminiscent in several ways of Saving Lucas Biggs (2014).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)