A Pitch in Time

The tale of a modern day boy who tumbles from his bike and wakes up to find he has traveled back in time to the spring of 1864 in rural Michigan during the Civil War. His southern accent, cultural views and even the sport he loves all come in conflict with everything he has ever known. The story unfolds as his new 19th century friend, Sally Norton, helps him learn the ways of this war-torn Northern community. Written by Robert A. Lytle Illustrated by Bill Williams

Grade 5-8-A time-travel fantasy with an added bonus for baseball fans. Mac Dugan, 14, has just moved to Michigan from Georgia. While riding his bike to the baseball field, he takes a header and wakes up in 1864. Taken in by the town pharmacist and his family, Mac learns (often the hard way) about the Civil War's effect on a small town's food supply, clothing, medicine, and school, and about old-time baseball, when it was a "gentlemen's game." In the two weeks before he returns to his own time, he tackles and tames the school bully, rescues the child of runaway slaves from a fire, and learns the original rules for "base ball." When Mac returns to his own time, his knowledge of a secret room in the house next door enables him to save another child from a fire. Characters occasionally talk like history professors, offering mini-lectures about such topics as the Underground Railroad, the status of Irish immigrants, and the proper way to fill prescriptions. Sometimes it is hard to suspend disbelief-would the Nortons really believe Mac and take him in so readily? And if so, why don't they take advantage of his knowledge of the future? Still, Mac and the Norton family are uncomplicated and easy to like, and the plot is fast moving. Lytle's feeling for the era's history and his research of such topics as old-time baseball rules and pharmacopoeia make this book interesting fare for good readers who lean toward historical fiction.
Sally Bates Goodroe, formerly at Harris County Public Library, Houston, TX
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