From Publishers Weekly
Magic, nostalgia and the power of a child's imagination come into play with winning results in the pencil illustrations of Tavares's debut children's book. Told in flashback, the tale opens with a wide-angle view of Fenway Park and the boy's awestruck comment, "I had never been inside a ballpark until that day." A remarkable drawing of one of Zachary's Red Sox heroes evokes a camera close-up of the hitter with the crowd's faces slightly out of focus. Zachary's father catches the resulting pop fly and hands it to his son, who, in a Field of Dreams-style suspension of disbelief, is immediately transported to the pitcher's mound. Wearing a Red Sox uniform, the boy throws a third strike to win the game, then finds himself back in the stands with his father. Back home, Zachary sleeps with the ball each night and dreams that he is on the field, performing more crowd-pleasing feats. Though the narrative's transitions (from the main action into the dreams, and between past and present) are a bit choppy, it ends on an upbeat note: years later, the narrator catches a home-run ball outside the park and gives the ball to a girl walking by with her father. The timeless quality of Tavares's black-and-white pencil illustrations is in perfect pitch with the story's setting and theme. Close-up images of Zachary convincingly convey the boy's elation in his moments of ball-playing triumph--a feeling with which young baseball fans will surely identify. Ages 7-12.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-In this picture-book baseball fantasy, Zachary's father takes him to Fenway Park for his first baseball game. Zachary's dad catches a pop fly hit by Buck Spoonwell, and hands it to the boy. Instantly, Zack is on the mound, pitching for Boston. He strikes the player out and the Sox win the game. When the catcher returns the ball, Zachary is suddenly back in his seat. He tells his father that this baseball is magic and his father replies, "They're all magic." Zachary writes his name on it, and sleeps with it every night. Eventually, the ball disappears. Years later, as an adult, he is walking past Fenway and catches an over-the-wall home run. He thinks he sees his name on it, but then the words disappear. He gives it to a girl in the street and tells her that all baseballs are magic. The soft-focus pencil drawings complement the text well, giving a feeling of the past. This simple, clearly written story is reminiscent of Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express (Houghton, 1995) in terms of its plot, fantasy elements, and overall sense of nostalgia.
Anne Parker, Milton Public Library, MA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
