Book Title: Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
Author: Ron Koertge
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Copyright Date: 2003
Genre: Sports Fiction
Brief Annotation: Kevin Boland is a fourteen-year-old boy whose life revolves around being an MVP first baseman. That is, until he comes down with mono and is forced to give up baseball and spend months at home recuperating. His Dad gives him a blank journal in case it might help him pass the time. Kevin accepts the journal, but he’d be the first to tell you that he’s a baseball player, not a writer. However, soon Kevin is sneaking into his Dad’s study to borrow his book on poetry. Kevin begins to write – sometimes humorous, sometimes insightful and heart-warming, and sometimes heart-breaking as he remembers his mother who recently died. Poetry opens a whole new world for Kevin and there’s really no turning back. Koertge has brilliantly captured the intricacies of a teenage boy’s life by creatively using free verse as his medium.
Your Rating (1-5) and why: 5 – I loved this book! I love that I spent an hour on a Saturday afternoon, reading cover to cover, totally caught up in this book. I love the idea of using a journal format. I especially love the use of free verse poetry to tell this story. Plus, readers get to learn a little bit about poetry along the way, as Kevin dabbles with other forms of poetry, including sonnets, ballads, and haiku. There are wonderful moments of laugh-out-loud humor and then a few pages later you’re drying your eyes. It’s one of those books where your heart is involved in the reading as much as your mind. It’s so fun to go into a book with no expectations, only to be surprised by how much you end up enjoying it.
Readers who will like this book: I think pre-teen and early teen boys will really enjoy this book. This is especially great for those types, just like Kevin, who just think of themselves as only “sports guys” – this is not only a great book to (hopefully) get them interested in reading, but also interested in poetry – poetry probably like they’ve never thought of it. I love the idea of some of these boys possibly being inspired to try writing like Kevin (even if they don’t tell anyone :)).
Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: What would you do if you had mono and all you were able to do/all you had the energy to do was to lie in bed for months? When you hear the word “poetry” what thoughts come to mind?
Interest Level (age): 11-14
Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 4.0
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