Customer Reviews

Haunting at Home Plate

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The breeze has died. Dead quiet settles on the ballpark. Nothing is happening on the field, where a misty halo hangs around the light. But there's something or someone there. Is a ghost who has been sending messages to the ball team, helping them improve their play and make it to the playoffs? The help is welcome -- but scary in David Patneaude's superbly written, attention gripping novel, Haunting At Home Plate. Also highly recommended for school and community library collections are Patneaude's early novels available from Albert Whitman & Company: Someone Was Watching; The Last Man's Reward; Framed In Fire; and Dark Starry Morning: Stories Of This World And Beyond.

In this story I have some things to point out.The setting was mostly at Phantom Limb Park,which was the place for the Dodgers team's baseball practices and games.Most players did not like playing at Phantom Limb Park becase it was to spooky for them, and they thought there was a ghost living there.In this story the main characters are-Mr.Conger, Andy Kirk, Gannon, Mike Nelson, Nelson's father,and the rest of the Dodgers Little League Baseball team.In this book the theme is baseball,and working together. The conflict is improving the team so they get into the playoffs.When they get through the playoffs and get to the championship,Nelson's father gets to see him play for the first time that year.After they win the championship,Nelson's dad decides to take another job so that he can spend more time with his son.

The character I liked the most in this story would have to be Andy Kirk.He was the ghost writing secret ways of winning to the Dodgers Little League Baseball team.

The most evil and sinister character would have to be Mr.Conger.He worked his son Gannon, and the dodgers team to no end.He would make his son run miles and miles.If he didn't live up to Mr.Conger's expectations, he would have to walk back home.After Mr Conger got kicked off the dodgers team,taking his son with him,there was relief with the new Coach Michelle (AKA Mike)(Nelsons Cousin).

I enjoyed this story "Haunting At Home Plate". It was action packed and a little spooky on every page.This story was very simple to read.People that know about baseball will think this story is great because they can understand it better.At the end of the story it was the most interesting.Nelson,the main character,find one hundred year old coins used by the ghost in this story.(Andy Kirk) Another interesting point in this story is how the ghost writes secret messages to the team in the orange clay near home plate.Andy Kirk gave them tactics on where to place the players on the Dodgers team.Also he gives the team tips on what the upcoming team has,that they don't.
This story did have emotion mainly about Andy Kirk's accident.The legend is told that Andy Kirk had fallen out of a twenty feet high cedar tree,while watching his brother's baseball game at Phantom Limb Park.Andy Kirk still stays in that same stop watching all the baseball games at the park mainly because he loves baseball.On the anniversary of Andy Kirk's death, the Dodgers team honors Andy, standing over the place he died, saying thank you for all of the help he had gave them.

As much as I could I would pick up "Haunting At Home Plate" and read it for a long period of time.Every page in this book is so detailed and makes you want to keep reading it.Overall I would give "Haunting At Home Plate" at ten out of ten.

Title of the Book: Haunting At Home Plate
By:David Patneaude
Reviewed by: P. Elayath
Period: 1

Haunting At Home Plate is a mystery book in which Nelson and his teammates try to find who is sending them helpful hints. Andy Kirk dies because he tripped and fell off the tree. Some years later, Nelson and his teammates have to use the same park with the same tree that caused the death of Andy as a practice diamond. They started getting helpful hints from some person who cares for the team. With those helpful hints, they win the championship. Even though they won, they still wondered who was writing all those messages. If you want to find out who wrote them, then read the book, Haunting At Home Plate.
I liked this book because the author's feelings and experiences make you feel that you are there at the time. One of my favorite quotes were, "I breathe in the moist air and an overpowering sense that I'm really not alone in this place. The sense isn't new, it's been here all along, winking at me, poking me in the ribs." As you can see, this is a very strong quote.
Another quote that also expresses emotion is, "The air hangs cool and still in the park. It's quiet. The houses and stores just outsided the park entrance seem far away. I think of coins, of warm rain in the shadow of trees." This also shows emotion because it describes how Nelson feels inside.
My favorite part in the book was in the prologue . At the end of the prologue was when Andy Kirk died. I like this part because it seemed to foreshadow the events in the future. One event that this death foreshadowed was when Nelson would end up using the exact same park as a playing field. It just interested me. It kept me reading for a long period of time. If you want to read a book that is about secrets, then this is the book for you.

It is 1949 at a baseball diamond and Andy Kirk is watching his brother play a baseball game. His brother hits a homerun and someone whipers,"Strike Three!" He falls from his tree seat, 25 feet from the ground, dying instantly! Now it is called "Phantom Limb Park." This park is now being used by Nelson,abaseball player,to practice. Haunting at Home Plate is mysterious and page turning.

Haunting at Home Plate was a quick and enjoyable middle grade read. The story follows the main character Nelson's baseball team as they vie for a local Little League playoff spot. But when their loudmouthed manager is suspended and two of their star players quit, things don't look good for the Dodgers. And things take a ghostly turn when it appears that the park where Nelson's team practices may be haunted by the ghost of a long-dead young baseball fan!

Even for a lukewarm baseball fan like me, I found this fast-paced sports story to be absorbing. The characters (mostly 6th grade boys) were realistic and spoke like true kids. The writing style was clear and straightforward. And while yes, this is a ghost story, I think it reads more like a "whodunnit" mystery. Young baseball fans and ghost story lovers (ages 10 and up) will both be entertained by this "home run" of a book.

This book was very very good. The athour lets you warm up and then throws you a fastball and divs straight into the action. I like how the athour really knows how to set a mood. By using such great descriptions, i felt like i was a part of the book. The plot of this book was very easy to follow because it ws a book that played out the way i knew it would. I think the building of charcters was more important than the building of the plot. Since the book was about a baseball team there were many, many, characters and i did get a little confused at times. The main character of this book was Nelson, an 11 year old boy. My first impression of Nelson was that he was an amazing player, but doesn't konw it. Later I found out he is an ordinary kid on an great team. The head coach and his super-star son get thrown off the team because of their overly competitive drive. The search is on for a new haed coach or the team can't play any games. After weeks of searching,the team recuited Nelson's older cousin Mike who is a girl. The team thought that since she was a girl she did not know anything about baseball. She proved them wrong by coaching them to a win. There is one character Andy Kirk who accidentally died near the baseball field. He leaves the team positive messages in the dirt to keep the teams morale up, hence the name of the book The Haunting at Home Plate. The messages are directions to the new coach which give her insight on batting order, positions, and game stratagy. Perhaps the messages are from Andy or Mike. I like to believ that since Andy died at this baseball field, that he was pulling for Nelson's team to win and he was the one leaving the messages. I would personally recommend this book to anyone who plays or has played baseball. My emotions randge from happy to upset while reading this book because it had left me feeling happy at some points and upset at others. For me I call it an emotional roller coaster. I would definetly read other books by this author

Patneaude weaves a wonderful and intriguing tale in The Haunting at Home Plate. I enjoyed the mystery and the message. Young adults will enjoy the great baseball story wound around a ghost story. The book is fresh and unpredictable, a great read!

The story begins with a boy named Andy Kirk watching a baseball game while perched high in a tree. His older brother is at bat and Andy is keeping score using pennies and nickels. When his brother gets a sound hit, Andy gets excited, but in the heat of the moment, he loses his grip and falls to his death.
You then fast forward to decades in the future. Nelson plays on a baseball team and they are fighting to gain the last playoff spot in their league. Gannon is their best player and his father, Mr. Conger, is a coach. Conger is a ruthless man, where winning is everything, even if it is at the expense of his son's emotional health. Finally, things get so bad that the league removes Conger and tells Nelson's team that they need a new coach. Conger also takes Gannon with him to another team. Nelson asks his relative Mike (a girl) if she will coach the team. At first, she is reluctant, but she soon catches the fever and takes the job. The team doesn't do well at first, but Mike manages to instill a better sense of team play and the team makes the playoffs and eventually wins the championship.
Through it all, there are messages drawn in the dirt around home plate at the field where Andy died. They are instructions regarding team play and where the players should be positioned. There are also tales of mysterious weather phenomena at that site. These phenomena have already been experienced by Nelson's dad and Mike and at the end, by Nelson as well.
There is a lot of action in this book and the message of parental over-control of athletics is a formidable and necessary one. Anyone who has been involved in youth sports in the last decade or so understands how wild and controlling some parents are. Kids don't have the opportunity to play for fun anymore, in the minds of the parents; it is all about winning and thoroughly defeating their opponent. This is an excellent book about the true meaning of athletic competition and the bonds for success that it can build.

HAUNTING AT HOME PLATE

By: Nathan Bostwick & Blake Hammaker

The story takes place in Washington State in the late 1990's in the town of Rivermist. The main character in the story is Nelson Lamp. A sixth grade boy who plays baseball for the Dodgers. Their coach was Mr. Conger who is a very mean coach. He wants his son, Gannon, who is also on the Dodgers team to be the best baseball player ever so he works him hard but he is already the best player on the Dodgers.

During one game against the Cardinals, Gannon is pitching and the batter crushes the pitch way over the fence. The next batter up Gannon's dad yells out "Down the heart" which meant hit the batter so Gannon tries to hit the batter and misses and the ump warns him and his dad about it. After the next inning the boy who hit the homerun is up and his dad yells "Down the heart" again so Gannon throws the ball at him and nails him right on the helmet. The kid turn out to be okay, but the ump throws Gannon and his dad out of the game. A member of the board for the league Nelson plays for was in the stands watching the game and has to kick Mr. Conger out of the league. Mr. Conger says if he leaves his son is coming to so they leave for good. So the team is left without a coach. After the game has a team meeting and the players have a choice of either banishing the team or getting someone to volunteer to be the coach. None of the parents want to coach so Nelson thinks his cousin, Mike, might do it. He tells the board member Les Boggs. Once Nelson gets home he calls his cousin Mike, whose real name is Michelle, to ask her to be the coach but she says she can't because she has to much college work to do, but after thinking it over Mike says she will do it if the Dodgers are dedicated to winning. She also tells Nelson about Phantom Limp Park and how scary it was for her as a kid, but Nelson says he will forget about what she said about Phantom Limp Park.

When Nelson's cousin shows up for the Dodgers practice they can't believe it's a girl. During the practice two teammates start to fight and Mike tries to tell the team how they can win and she tells them to stop the fight. She also tells them about Andy Kirk and how this park became known as Phantom Limb Park. After Andy died, people stopped using the field. Someone came and cut down all the low branches of the 173 cedar trees that grew around the park, because Andy fell off one of the low branches while watching a baseball game. The park has been redone and everyone has forgotten about the incident. The next practice it is raining and Mike says they won't cancel practice even if it's raining, so they practice in the rain.

On Saturday the Dodgers have a game against the Giants If they win they will be two games ahead of them for the last playoff spot. Instead they lose, but they can still get into the playoffs.

On Monday, when they get to the field for practice there is a message at home plate "DODGERS-WINNERS SUPPORT THERE TEAMMATES. SAY SOMETHING HELPFUL OR KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT -AK", and they say its Andy Kirk's initials so the team is scared. Then in two other practices the team had, whenever they got to the field there where messages there that said "TREAT EACH OTHER LIKE YOU'LL BE ALL TOGETHER AGAIN. YOU WON'T." The other message said "DON'T GROW OLD OR DIE YOUNG THINKING ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN GIVE IT YOUR BEST." and everyone on the team thought that Andy Kirk the boy who died had sent the messages to them by writing it in the dirt at home plate.

Nelson's dad is in Korea so he can't see any of Nelson's games so he wants to make the playoffs because he will be home for them so he can finally watch Nelson play ball. The next practice is on Friday and Nelson gets there early to see the message written in the dirt and it says "SECOND CHANCES ARE AS RARE AS RAINBOWS." And they said other message was "SID IS A BATTER NOW. YOU ARE A TEAM. ASK MIKE TO PITCH BATTING PRACTICE TO EVERYONE." Nelson thinks Andy is trying to help his team make the playoffs but he doesn't know why.

Until the Dodgers next game they continued to practice and get better and better. On Saturday they have a game at noon against the Mets they have already beat the Mets earlier in the year. They win their game against the Mets and they still have a shot at the playoffs. Their next practice there is no message in the dirt and the team is confused. The next day there is a message in the dirt it says "HOW MANY DODGERS DOES IT TAKE TO WIN A GAME? TEN." If the team wins their next game on Thursday against the Cubs they are in the playoffs. At their next practice there is a message its reads "BEWARE OF HIGH LIMBS" and on the other side of the plate there is another message that says "PITCH THE ROOKIE AGAINST THE CUBS." The team says if we pitch the rookie we'll lose. The team decides to pitch Sid and then Nelson came in at the end of the game. They win the game and celebrate on the mound, now they are in the playoffs.

They think Mr. Conger will be able to see them in the playoffs. Maybe Nelson's dad will be able to finally watch Nelson play a game. Their first playoff game is against the Rockies if they win they are in the championship against the winner of the Expos-Marlins game.

Before their next practice they stay in the dark and to see who is really writing those messages. A dark figure goes up to home plate and starts to walk around. They shine a flashlight on his face and find out it is Chas. The team is shocked and Chaz says he did it to keep the team together and confident. They go to sleep and when they wake up there are two messages, but Chaz didn't write them. They say, "UMPIRES DON'T LOSE BALL GAMES-TEAMS DO" the other message says "DON'T LISTEN TO THE THUNDER LISTEN TO YOUR HEART." Chas wonders if Andy Kirk is here somewhere?

The team says that if anyone else wins the playoffs they hope it is Gannon's new team the Expos. The next game is against the Rockies and they win so now they are in the championship game. Nelson looks into the crowd and sees his dad cheering. The championship game is against the Expos.

The next practice there is a message "MOVE WEB TO SECOND BASE WHEN NELSON IS PITCHING. WHEN THE ROOKIE IS IN THEIR, THE OTHER TEAMS ARE SWINGING LATE. PUT A SMILE ON YOUR GAME FACE -AK."
After their practice the team meets Andy Kirk's dad.

Tuesday is game day for the championship. They beat Gannon's new team the Expos and they are the champions. Everyone is happy and they give thanks to Andy Kirk because he helped them win the championship by telling them what to do. Everyone wants to know if Mike will coach their team next year but she doesn't know. A conflict and resolution in the story is when the team's coach is kicked out of the league and nobody will coach their team. Nelson volunteers his cousin who doesn't even know if she can coach or not. Nelson calls her and talks her into becoming their coach. Without her they could not have won the championship.

Well the first book of his I read was Someone was watching and well wow it made me want to read all the others! When his books are over you wish it weren't over and you could keep reading. Haunting at home Plate was such a great book because I love softball and baseball so this book had a part of me wishing i were in it. It keeps you reading and you never want to stop all his books are great read them all!