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King of the Mound Reading Recommendations

King of the Mound follows 12-year-old Nick through the summer of the 1935 baseball season.  If you like reading baseball stories and/or historical fiction, check out some of these other great books:

Satch & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure by Dan Gutman

With his ability to travel through time using vintage baseball cards, Joe takes Flip with him to find out whether Satchel Paige really was the fastest pitcher ever.

Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park

In Brooklyn in 1951, a die-hard Giants fan teaches nine-year-old Maggie, who is a "Bums" (Dodgers) fan, how to use a technique to keep score of a baseball game which creates a special friendship between them.

A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, thirteen-year-old Tetsu and his family are sent to the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona where a fellow prisoner starts a baseball team, but when Tetsu's sister becomes ill and he feels responsible, he stops playing.

Force Out by Tim Green

When Joey has to compete with his best friend, Zach, for a single spot on an elite baseball team, he is forced to decide how far he is willing to go to win.

Free Baseball by Sue Corbett

Angry with his mother for having too little time for him, eleven-year-old Felix takes advantage of an opportunity to become bat boy for a minor league baseball team, hoping to someday be like his father, a famous Cuban outfielder.

E.L. Konigsburg

Award-winning children's author E.L. Konigsburg passed away last Friday, April 19th, at the age of 83.  She is one of my favorite children's author and wrote many excellent books for kids.  My favorite is her classic 1967 Newbery Award winner, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  Like many kids I dreamed of running away to New York City and living at the MET.  What an incredible adventure! 

Read about her at Publisher's Weekly and visit the library for one of her amazing books today.

Fenway Park

Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, opened on this day in 1912!

Read:

The Prince of Fenway Park by Julianna Baggott

In the fall of 2004, twelve-year-old Oscar Egg is sent to live with his father in a strange netherworld under Boston's Fenway Park, where he joins the fairies, pooka, banshee, and other beings that are trapped there, waiting for someone to break the eighty-six-year-old curse that has prevented the Boston Red Sox from winning a World Series.

The Fenway Foul-Up by David A. Kelly

Cousins Mike and Kate are at Boston's Fenway Park when the Red Sox's star hitter discovers that his lucky baseball bat has been stolen.

Fenway Fever by John Ritter

Twelve-year-old Alfredo "Stats" Pagano and Boston Red Sox pitcher Billee Orbitt work together to break a potential curse at Fenway Park.

Earth Day

Earth Day is April 22nd!  Find out how the Earth Day holiday got started, all about how to reduce, reuse and recycle and about composting. 

And here are some great chapter books to read:

Operation Redwood by Susannah T. French

In northern California, Julian Carter-Li and his friends old and new fight to save a grove of redwoods from an investment company that plans to cut them down.

Hoot by Carol Hiassen

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

Crunch by Leslie O'Connor

The oldest Mariss brother, fourteen-year-old Dewey, attempts to be the "embodiment of responsibility" as he juggles the management of the family's bicycle repair business while sharing the household and farm duties with his siblings after a sudden energy crisis strands their parents far from home.

Annie Glover is Not a Tree Lover by Darleen Beard

When her grandmother chains herself to the tree across from the school to save it from being cut down, fourth-grader Annie wants to die of humiliation, but when she dicovers the town's history, her attitude changes.

Satchel Paige

In King of the Mound, 12-year-old Nick gets to know and is inspired by the great pitcher, Satchel Paige.  Satchel Paige was a baseball legend who played in both the Negro Leagues and in Major League Baseball.  He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.  Find out all about him, read famous quotes and see photographs at the Official Satchel Paige Website.

Satchel Paige by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Examines the life of the legendary baseball player, who was the first African-American to pitch in a Major League World Series.



Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio by Robert Skead

In 1936, the New York Yankees wanted to test a hot prospect named Joe DiMaggio to see if he was ready for the big leagues. They knew just the ballplayer to call, Satchel Paige, the best pitcher anywhere, black or white. For the game, Paige joined a group of amateur African-American players, and they faced off against a team of white major leaguers plus young DiMaggio.

National Library Week

It's National Library Week, April 14 - 20!  Visit the library for a great book, a great program and much, much more!  We have a lot of excellent events happening this week, from eBook help to Live Homework Help demos - visit our website for details and stop by the library today!