A Hall Lot of Trouble at Cooperstown

Gr 3–5—Three 11-year-old boys, aka "the "Baseball Geeks," are the focus of this contemporary, baseball-themed series. They live in homes with varying levels of dysfunction, yet bond over their love of the game. When one of the boys is given a "priceless" baseball that his father boasts was switched with a fake, they have the task of returning the it to the Baseball Hall of Fame. They put together a plan that will take them from small-town Ohio all the way to Cooperstown, New York. While the baseball angle is a welcome touch, sadly, this slight story is filled with many unbelievable situations. The characters are one-dimensional; every adult is simple-minded and easily outwitted. The boys' cheat, lie, and steal to accomplish their mission. Readers will be better suited with realistic baseball stories such as Kathryn Fitzmaurice's Diamond in the Desert (Viking, 2012) or David A. Kelly's baseball/detective series, "The Ballpark Mysteries" (Random).—Sada Mozer, Los Angeles Public Library