Southpaw: Winning Season #6 [Hardcover]

Rich Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2006 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Winning Season (Book 6)

Jimmy Fleming throws left, hits right and left, and is hoping to become Hudson City’s newest pitcher.Having moved from Pennsylvania, he’s looking forward to making some new friends and playing the sport he loves. But while he makes the team, things don’t go the way he’d hoped. His teammates aren’t too welcoming and his time on the mound is less than stellar. It doesn’t help that his dad is applying more and more pressure to be a star pitcher. Before long, Jimmy is wishing he’d never left Pennsylvania. But Jimmy isn’t one to give up, and just when the season hits a low point, Jimmy’s pitches—and his attitude—begin to find their mark.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–Jimmy Fleming is the new kid in town, having chosen to accompany his recently divorced father to Hudson City, NJ. He makes the middle school baseball team and tries to fit in with this diverse group of boys unlike the kids back home in rural Pennsylvania. Success is slow in coming as the team opens the season with a series of close losses, and Jimmy--often the last pitcher on the mound--feels the pressure. But with a little soul searching and encouragement from his teammates, he settles in and the Hornets finally win their first game. The book ends on a high note as the boy looks forward to a bright future with new friends and athletic success. This is a lightweight read with stock characters and formulaic situations. However, the action scenes are handled competently. The book lacks the humor and insight of the father-son dynamics in Dan Gutmans Baseball Card Adventure series (HarperCollins) and the breadth of character found in John H. Ritters excellent The Boy Who Saved Baseball (Philomel, 2003).–Kara Schaff Dean, Needham Public Library, MA
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From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. A month after moving to a new town with his recently divorced father, seventh-grader Jimmy looks for ways to fit in, both in his new neighborhood and on his new school's baseball team. Pressured by his dad to excel, he finds himself struggling with his control on the pitching mound as the team loses game after game. Can he turn both his season and his life around? Do you doubt? Wallace continues to explore Matt Christopher territory with assurance in this uplifting entry in the Winning Season series. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (March 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670060534
• ISBN-13: 978-0670060535
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,172,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rich Wallace is an award-winning author of many novels for kids and teenagers. Recent work includes the Kickers series of soccer novels for kids in grades 2-4; the middle-grade historical novel War and Watermelon, set in the summer of Woodstock; and Sports Camp, about an 11-year-old boy away at camp for the first time. Novels for teenagers including Wrestling Sturbridge, Playing Without the Ball, and Perpetual Check, among others. He is also the author of The Timbertoes feature in Highlights magazine. Visit his web site at www.richwallacebooks.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Missing Pages, August 16, 2007

By 

Peter B. Rubnitz (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Southpaw: Winning Season (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book with my 9-year old son but, toward the end, there were 3 blank pages where the story didn't print. I bought a second copy thinking that it was a fluke, but the second copy had the same 3 blank pages.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Missing Pages, May 6, 2007

By 

Thomas K. Bursch - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Southpaw: Winning Season (Paperback)

The book has several missing pages, that is, pages that are not printed.

Seems to be a general problem because the replacement copy had the same pages missing.