Heart of a Champion - Hardcover

Deuker, Carl

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316181668 ISBN 13: 9780316181662

Publisher: Joy st Books, 1993

Synopsis

When Seth Barham's best friend, Jimmy, is kicked off the baseball team, Seth must deal with both his feelings toward the fallen hero and the death of his father. By the author of On the Devil's Court.

About this title

About the Author:

Carl Deuker is described as “a rising young star in psychological sports fiction” by Jim Trelease in The Read-Aloud Handbook. He is the author of three sports novels, On the Devil's Court, Heart of a Champion, and Painting the Black, all of which were selected as ALA Best Books for Young Adults.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 6-10-- On the day Seth Barham met Jimmy Winter, his life changed. Seth had been an unfocused, confused pre-teen who had never come to terms with his father's death when he was seven. He meets Jimmy in a park as Jimmy's overbearing father is putting his son through intense baseball drills. As their friendship develops, Jimmy's intensity and self-assurance on the playing field spills over into Seth's life, helping him to blossom as a student and a baseball player. However, Jimmy's home life begins to unravel when his parents divorce. Also, he is suspended from the team when he develops a drinking problem. Seth withstands peer pressure to drink, and, with his mother's support, begins to accept his father's death. However, his biggest battle comes when he must cope with Jimmy's death in an auto accident. Baseball action permeates the story, increasing the novel's interest to those readers familiar with the sport but setting up possible barriers for the uninitiated. Seth's simply told, often moving first-person narrative is meant to be his way of accepting the two losses in his life. However, although the semi-therapeutic story covers three years in the boys' baseball lives, it largely ignores their school lives and some readers may wonder what else they did. Mixing themes common to many YA coming-of-age titles with strong character development, this easy-to-read and well-paced novel will involve many readers. --Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Joy st Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0316181668
• ISBN 13: 9780316181662
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 199