A Different Season: 2 [Hardcover]

David Klass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 1988

High school baseball star Jim Roark is delighted to meet Jennifer Douglas, the second basewoman on the girls' softball team, until she becomes the first female player on his all-male team.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-12 Star pitcher Jim ``Streak'' Roark is dismayed when Jennifer Douglas joins the boys' baseball team at Oakdale High. Although he's attracted to Jenny, as far as Jim and a lot of other people are concerned, baseball is a man's game. What will happen to the team camaraderie, the banter, the ``maleness'' of the game with a girl present? And what about her size and vulnerability to injury? These questions arise, but unlike the female-athlete novels of the '70s, such as Thomas Dygard's Winning Kicker (Morrow, 1978), Klass does not allow the sex-role arguments to take center stage. Instead, it is Jim's relationships with others that expand this sports story and form the core of the novel. Although Klass overdramatizes an accident that ended Jim's father's career as a major leaguer by painfully dropping hints, he keeps control over the characters and storylines, merging them at just the right moments. Detailed play-by-play and boisterous locker-room jokes are balanced with touching scenes of introspection and revelations of feelings. Jennifer does not become Ms. Superstar by story's end, and Jim does not sign a big league contract. Klass manages to keep readers wondering what the outcome will be both on and off the field in this sports/romance/coming-of-age story. Susan Schuller, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 20 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition (January 21, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525672370
• ISBN-13: 978-0525672371
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,836,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book, May 21, 2000

By 

Ryan (Clarkston, Washington U.S.A) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Different Season: 2 (Hardcover)

I am 12 and i read this book in 3 days because it was so good and i could not put it down. I thinks it teaches kids my age alot about the consequences of drinking and driving. I like the book because i love baseball but this book taught me about the other things. I think this book is great and it is a good lesson. I give it 2 thumbs up.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Memorable Sports Novel, February 10, 2006

By 

Tigers#1 (Versailles, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Different Season: 2 (Hardcover)

A Different Season is about a boy who really loves to play baseball. "Streak" is a senior at his high school, and is getting scouted to be a major league pitcher. In the middle of the season a girl named Jennifer comes, and joins the baseball team. At first Streak doesn't like having Jennifer on the team at all, but as the season moves on he gets to know Jennifer more, and starts too really like her a lot. Their baseball team has a lot of success. With Streak carting the team they make it to the county finals. Streak, after winning, starts to have some drinking problems, and you'll have to read to find out how far they make it in the county tournament, what happens between Streak, and Jennifer, and what is going on with his drinking problems.
I really liked this book. Some things that I liked were that it was about a boy who pitches on a baseball team, and I am a pitcher on my baseball team. I could really relate to this book, and visualize what was going on. A dislike I had in this book was that they had a girl join a baseball team. It's kind of unrealistic. There would hardly ever be a girl join a baseball team.
Some people that would like this book would be some people that like to play baseball, because that is what this book is mostly about. You would also like this book if you kind of like love stories.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book to me!!, May 4, 2005

By 

Jason Liebhart "Jason" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Different Season: 2 (Hardcover)

I am a teen, and i very rarely read books, and in fact i hate reading. When i was in my library and saw this book with a girl on the cover, on a baseball field it caught my eye. This is a great book for people who like reading about sexism in real life. It is one of the best books I have ever read and i do recommend it to all teen readers.