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A review by mrskatiefitz
Plunked by Michael Northrop
3.0
At the start of Little League season, sixth grader Jack Mogens is eager for the chance to be a starter on his team, the Tall Pines Braves. When he gets hit in the head with a pitch during the first game of the year, however, he becomes spooked. Suddenly, he is terrified of inside pitches and convinced he'll never be able to play baseball again. Afraid to admit his fears, Jack begins to orchestrate elaborate escape plans to get out of attending games.
For elementary school boys who live and breathe baseball, this book will certainly have great appeal. Unlike other sports books which often have side plots, this book is all baseball from beginning to end. (Even the girl Jack likes is on the team!) The characters discuss both little league and major league baseball, and there is much talk of stats, historic players, baseball cards, and improving one's own game. The boys also talk like sixth graders, calling each other "loser" as a term of endearment and making jokes at each other's expense. There is also one player on the team whom none of the kids like because he is a bully, and they call him Malfoy, after Harry Potter's wizarding nemesis. These details make it easy for kids to relate to the book, as it feels very contemporary and speaks to them in the language of their own world - even if the Harry Potter reference feels out of place.
While kids are likely to be satisfied with the baseball-heavy plot of the story, parents will also be pleased to note that the author uses Jack's baseball injury as a vehicle for telling a story about building character in the face of adversity. Though Jack initially wants to lie his way out of having to face inside pitches ever again, he soon realizes this is not the way to be true to his team, or to be fair to himself. Because the story has a moral that can be extrapolated to life beyond the baseball field, this book is a great read-alike for Fred Bowen's many sports books, and it would be an especially good choice for kids who are beginning to feel that Bowen's books are too easy for them. Plunked seems like it would be a good bridge between shorter sports novels and YA sports stories by authors like Mike Lupica, Tim Green, Robert Lipsyte, and Chris Crutcher.
For elementary school boys who live and breathe baseball, this book will certainly have great appeal. Unlike other sports books which often have side plots, this book is all baseball from beginning to end. (Even the girl Jack likes is on the team!) The characters discuss both little league and major league baseball, and there is much talk of stats, historic players, baseball cards, and improving one's own game. The boys also talk like sixth graders, calling each other "loser" as a term of endearment and making jokes at each other's expense. There is also one player on the team whom none of the kids like because he is a bully, and they call him Malfoy, after Harry Potter's wizarding nemesis. These details make it easy for kids to relate to the book, as it feels very contemporary and speaks to them in the language of their own world - even if the Harry Potter reference feels out of place.
While kids are likely to be satisfied with the baseball-heavy plot of the story, parents will also be pleased to note that the author uses Jack's baseball injury as a vehicle for telling a story about building character in the face of adversity. Though Jack initially wants to lie his way out of having to face inside pitches ever again, he soon realizes this is not the way to be true to his team, or to be fair to himself. Because the story has a moral that can be extrapolated to life beyond the baseball field, this book is a great read-alike for Fred Bowen's many sports books, and it would be an especially good choice for kids who are beginning to feel that Bowen's books are too easy for them. Plunked seems like it would be a good bridge between shorter sports novels and YA sports stories by authors like Mike Lupica, Tim Green, Robert Lipsyte, and Chris Crutcher.