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A review by theartolater
A Whole New Ballgame by Phil Bildner
4.0
Sports and friendship books in the middle grade/chapter realm can be a crapshoot in a lot of ways as they try to balance out the sports with the lessons on friendship and on childhood responsibility. Rip and Red, the two characters in this new series, try to approach the genre in a different way here as they struggle not only with basketball, but school budgets, strange teachers, and issues like handicaps and autism.
On one hand, this is very much a "throw a lot of stuff out there" type of read, but it's done well enough to forgive the sort of thing adult readers see and the kids do not. In putting a lot of different things of value front and center, it does elevate the rest as a result, and ends up being a book both that highlights friendship and sports, and the series becomes something a lot of kids in this age looking for books like this, especially reluctant boy readers, will enjoy. Absolutely worth a look.
On one hand, this is very much a "throw a lot of stuff out there" type of read, but it's done well enough to forgive the sort of thing adult readers see and the kids do not. In putting a lot of different things of value front and center, it does elevate the rest as a result, and ends up being a book both that highlights friendship and sports, and the series becomes something a lot of kids in this age looking for books like this, especially reluctant boy readers, will enjoy. Absolutely worth a look.