Extra Innings [Hardcover]

Robert Newton Peck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

Little Viddy's earliest baseball memory was sitting on a hard plank bench in the heart of a visiting team'sdugout, wedged between her two aging gods, Wash and Cappy.And hearing an ump holler: "Play ball!"

In a devastating explosion, young Tate Stonemason loses his family--and his dream--when their private plane crashes and burns. Only he survives. With a leg destroyed, Tate has no chance to pitch in the majors. No one can ease his anger and grief--except the lady who taught him the game...Great-aunt Vidalia.

Desperate for a way to heal Tate's hurting, Aunt Viddy, now seventy, shares her childhood with him: her purple-bus travels with Ethiopia's Clowns, a Depression-era baseball team of rollicking rascals. The laughter and common love of baseball he shares with Aunt Viddy slowly inspires Tate Bannock Stonemason to mature, conquer tragedy, and realize the true power of family.

Robert Newton Peck presents a humorous and heartwarming story of how yesterday's baseball diamonds help to mend the crushed leg and battered spirit of a young athlete.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Only the most ardent of baseball fans will likely cotton to this preachy, maudlin effort from the author of The Day No Pigs Would Die. When the rest of his immediate family dies in a plane accident, teenager Tate Stonemason survives. His leg shattered, he struggles with his grief, especially in giving up his dream of pitching in the major leagues. By the end, Tate conquers his inner demons with the help of his great-aunt Vidalia, an African-American woman adopted into his family after spending her early years touring with a "colored" baseball team called Ethiopia's Clowns. Peck devotes the second third of the book to Vidalia's history and the last third to Tate's great-grandfather, Abbott, so readers never fully identify with the young protagonist's predicament. Worldly Aunt Vidalia is a little too perfect, and Tate's worship of her is so artificially worded it rarely sounds authentic: "Vidalia, you are so wise, it's eerie," says Tate. "Is there anything you don't know? Honestly, is there?" The best parts of Peck's novel chronicle the sports adventures of Vidalia's childhood, which vividly capture the politics of mixed-race baseball in the 1930s. Elsewhere, clunky writing bogs down this tale in service of a moral. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8-Sixteen-year-old Tate Stonemason survives the crash of a small plane that killed his parents and sister. Injuries from the crash also destroy his dream of playing baseball in the major leagues one day. Bitter and lonely, Tate is comforted by his Great-Granddad Abbott Bristol Stonemason and the man's adopted African-American daughter, Vidalia. She tells Tate of her early childhood spent with Ethiopia's Clowns, a Depression-era, all-black baseball team that barnstormed its way through the South, before she was adopted by the white Stonemason family. The long story within a story of her childhood is her legacy to the teen. After her death, he finds a reason to go on with his life, as he begins to write Vidalia's oral history. The account of the barnstorming team, getting by on a shoestring and finding kindness and hatred in the deep South, is the best part of this book. Many readers, however, will find it difficult to plow through the elaborate dialogue that can best be described as baroque. Unfortunately, Tate and his relatives seem rather remote and artificial creations. At the novel's end, readers may find it difficult to care much about the boy because they haven't gotten to know him very well.
Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; First Edition edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060288671
• ISBN-13: 978-0060288679
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,463,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Winning Look At Depression Era Negro League Baseball, March 6, 2006

By 

J. Cross (TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Extra Innings (Library Binding)

Robert Newton Peck makes the past come alive in Extra Innings. A love of baseball isn't needed to be captivated by the story, as layers are peeled off to reveal Aunt Viddy's past, and hope for Tate's future. The insight into the Negro Baseball Leagues, and the the changes going on in society make this compelling. Peck writes with a style that makes you feel you are there, and it seems very real. One of Peck's best efforts, though all his novels I've read are well written (he's written over 60 books).
I would also suggest reading A Day No Pigs Would Die, another novel that deals with a young man's struggle through hard times, a great book (for older youth or adults). But most of all, give a read to any of his Soup books. You will love the character, and the stories are funny and well written, enjoyable to children and adults alike. Any age child will enjoy reading or having the Soup stories read to them. They are semi-autobiographical novels by Peck.
I am a retired teacher, having taught grades k-12, and Robert Newton Peck is an author children and adults both seem to love if they give him a chance. Students of all ages loved his books, and I used them for oral reading in 3rd-4th grade often. However, Extra Innings is a different sort of book from the Soup stories he is most well known for. It is full of wonderful characters and depth, with a story that grabs you, humorous, but not as lighthearted and funny as the Soup novels (a bit more serious in tone), but not as sad as A Day No Pigs Would Die, even though it deals with some loss and hardship.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, April 4, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Extra Innings (Paperback)

I think the book was a good book.The reason I like this book is because I like baseball and this book teaches alittle to the reder about the sport.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extra Innings, May 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Extra Innings (Paperback)

I liked this book because it shows how two people can talk about baseball for hours at a time even though the boy is in his teens and his aunt is in her 70's. I also liked the book because Tate the boy had to adjust to a new lifestyle after his all his family members had passed away in a plane crash. I didn't like the book because the story just talked about his aunt's life and her traveling with this baseball team.