Screaming at the Ump

March 3, 2014
Casey Snowden, 12, loves life at Behind the Plate, the third best (out of three) U.S. academy devoted to training baseball umpires. He lives there with his father, grandfather, and (often) best friend Zeke, whose absent parents have a busy dental practice. Also absent is Casey's mother, who hated living on the retooled grounds of a former reform school, and left with Bob the Baker, the bread delivery guy. As sixth grade starts, another session of umpiring school begins, and this one includes a student who goes by one name but bears an uncanny resemblance to a former major league pitcher who disappeared following a steroids scandal. Could they be one and same, and can Casey make a splash in the school newspaper if he uncovers the truth? Multiple threads come together in a well-crafted way when Casey realizes the same skills an umpire needsâbeing objective and fair, knowing the rules, and being in the right spot to make the callâalso apply to becoming a good journalist and healing his broken relationship with his mother. Ages 10â14. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

March 1, 2014
In a decided departure for baseball-themed novels, a middle schooler figures out that the game's values are not always reliable guidelines for real life. Casey is delighted when his dad, who runs a New Jersey camp for aspiring umpires, puts him in charge of You Suck, Ump! Day--a training exercise in which everyone in town is invited to fill the stands and harangue the students while they try to call a game. On the other hand, his mom is definitely benched in his mind for getting a divorce, and he's disgusted to discover that sixth-graders at his new school aren't permitted to write for the paper. But then a truly publication-worthy scoop drops into his lap: It seems that one of the trainees is a former major leaguer who quit under a cloud of drug-use suspicion. Vernick laces her tale with humor, plus credible insights into the truly difficult art and techniques of umpiring, as she leads her aspiring journalist to make some good choices in the wake of a realization that people (parents included) should have more than one chance to get their calls right. (As major league umpires' calls will be challengeable in 2014, the metaphor isn't as strong as it might be...but that's not the author's fault, and young readers will still see her point.) Not a heavy hitter but worthy of a spot in the starting lineup. (Fiction. 10-12)

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May 1, 2014

Gr 5-8-Most kids who are baseball-obsessed do not focus their obsession on umpiring. But since Casey's father and grandfather run the third best umpire school in the country, Casey's passion is understandable. He also wants to become a sports journalist. When one of his father's students is revealed as a former major league baseball player who disappeared after a steroid scandal, Casey thinks he has stumbled onto the scoop of the year. But after learning about journalistic objectivity, dealing with his parent's divorce, and helping keep his wacky best friend out of trouble, nothing is going Casey's way. Vernick has written a truly realistic 12-year-old boy in Casey. He is all kid; smart but impetuous, with a good heart. His yearning to be a reporter and get published without doing much work rings true, as does his eventual realization that big dreams do not happen without effort. The umpire school is an intriguing angle to use as a hook to the story. There is enough baseball to keep fans interested, and yet not so much that it might turn off non-sports lovers. The book includes discussions of major league drug use, the aftereffects of divorce, and a bit of parental neglect, but everything is balanced; it all feeds the story, nothing seems thrown in for sensationalism. A solid choice for middle-grade readers.-Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Twelve-year-old Casey's dad runs a school for umpires, so "people always assumed I was going to be an umpire when I got older." But Casey dreams of a career writing about baseball instead. Sports fans will appreciate the original setting; Casey is a well-realized character, and his anger at his mother for his parents' divorce broadens the novel's scope.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)