Playing the Field [Hardcover]

Phil Bildner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–Darcy Miller is a softball star frustrated with her less-than-stellar high school team. Wanting to make better use of her talents, she tries to convince the principal that she could take the boys baseball team to the championships if only she were given the chance. However, Mr. Basset is less than thrilled with the idea until his son, Brandon, Darcys long-term crush, tells him that Darcy is a lesbian. She plays along with the ruse, showing little concern for the consequences that pretending to be gay could have on her social life. Why being a lesbian makes one eligible to play boys baseball is not addressed. In exchange for getting the opportunity to try out, the principal forces Darcy to join the Gay Straight Alliance. At this point the plot becomes even more preposterous. The GSA president, Josh, is Darcys ex-best friend and fellow admirer of Brandon. When Josh gets wind of Darcys plan to be a closeted straight, he vows to expose her, but not before teaching her a poorly executed lesson on tolerance. The anticlimactic resolution to this Shakespearean-farce-gone-bland ends with Brandon saving the day and getting the girl, while Darcy becomes captain of the baseball team, with no repercussions for her actions. Flat characterizations, dated slang, and wholly unbelievable scenarios prevent this novel from being anything close to a homerun.–Michelle Roberts, Merrick Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. In this fearlessly irreverent first novel, a high-schooler achieves her baseball dreams and more. It's not her stellar abilities in the field that get Darcy off the wretched girls' softball squad and onto the first-rate boys' baseball team. Nor is it her fiery mother's confrontation with the timorous principal who Mom also happens to be dating. It's really thanks to the principal's own son, hunky senior Brandon, who manipulates his father by suggesting that^B Darcy is a lesbian and then raises the stakes by intimating that any "gay" issue is a hot button, susceptible to becoming a cause celebre. He also finds a way to patch up Darcy's bitter feud with former best buddy Josh, the humorless, high-strung president of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance. Bildner narrowly avoids turning Josh into a caricature, but in Darcy he creates a smart, take-charge character, who is sensitive enough to see the irony (usually) of being forced into the role of closet heterosexual and tough enough to take the resulting heat in pursuit of her goal. By the triumphant final out, she has clicked with the team, and with Brandon, too. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (February 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416902848
• ISBN-13: 978-1416902843
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #847,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am Phil.

I used to be a middle school teacher in the New York City Public Schools. Now I write books for kids. I get to travel around the country in order to visit schools and talk to students about my books and writing. How lucky can one person be?

I live in Brooklyn, New York in a killer loft in Clinton Hill. Before Brooklyn, I lived in Manhattan for over a decade, mostly in the West Village. And before that, I grew up on Long Island (but I like to keep that on the dl).

I mos def like to have a good time. I'm incredibly active. I'm a gym-junkie. I like to go running and do pretty much anything outdoors. I used to play hoops 24/7, but unfortunately, the legs don't allow me to do the things I was once able to do.

I live with my boyfriend of fourteen years. He likes to have almost as much fun as I do. Like me, he's a big kid. I've never met anyone so genuine and so real in my entire life. He has the kindest heart and the most gentle soul. He's beautiful, expressive and a freakin' riot.

Welcome to my world!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, January 12, 2007

By 

S. V. King "erotipoet" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playing the Field (Hardcover)

As a librarian and a lezbrarian, I read a lot of children's and young adult fiction. I was excited to see that a new "gay" book was coming out but terribly disappointing after I finished reading it. It is terribly unprobable that just because someone is a lesbian that entitles them to play on an all-male baseball team, perhaps if that someone was transgendered we might have a decent and more complicated/interesting story. Brandon seems smug with all the cards up his sleeve and Josh as an angry isolationist. Loved the baseball part of the story, but hated with a passion the rest of it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Run, March 1, 2006

By 

Starwriter58 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing the Field (Hardcover)

As a middle school teacher I read a wide range of teen and young adult literature. Some folks are "unable to distinguish between political differences and personal hatred...". "Playing the Field" is layered with themes that provide a platform for discussions of tough to teach topics. It is an entertaining and insightful must read for educators. Each character delivers poignant messages through vivid, energetic, and entertaining voices. This book is a nonstop read for middle and high school students.

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, December 23, 2006

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing the Field (Hardcover)

Meet Darcy. She is a senior and a star softball player. Her dream has always been to play baseball. That dream is about to come true, but there is a catch.

Darcy's life is far from easy. Her high school principal is currently dating and yuck! sleeping with her mother. Attempts by her mother to convince Principal Basset that her daughter should be part of the boys' baseball team have fallen short. That is, until someone tells the principal that Darcy is gay.

Upon hearing this shocking news, Darcy's first reaction is to hastily explain the truth and even admit her crush on his son, Brandon. But after the initial shock of the announcement, Darcy realizes that her dream could come true if she is willing to participate in a small game of sexual deception. What's wrong with pretending to be gay? Who could it hurt?

Phil Bildner uses terrific humor and a fair amount of baseball action to create a fast-paced tale of Darcy's life spinning out of control. Readers will be entertained by Darcy's love life, an improving season for the baseball team, and some crazy meetings of the school's GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) organization. PLAYING THE FIELD has a little something for everyone.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"