The members of Whizs beloved baseball team -- the Breadhurst Newts -- need help in a bad way. They're losing to the worst teams in the league! But then Whiz has an idea at his after-school printing job: What if he prints baseball cards with imaginary star players for his team? And what if they come to life?

ANNOTATION

When his teammates on the Breadhurst Newts baseball team continue their losing ways, Whiz uses an unusual printing press to create several star players in hopes of winning a game.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The members of Whizs beloved baseball team — the Breadhurst Newts — need help in a bad way. They're losing to the worst teams in the league! But then Whiz has an idea at his after-school printing job: What if he prints baseball cards with imaginary star players for his team? And what if they come to life?

About the Author

Bruce Brooks was born in Virginia and began writing fiction at age ten. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972 and from the University Of Iowa Writer's Workshop in 1980. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, a magazine writer, newsletter editor, movie critic, teacher and lecturer.

Bruce Brooks has twice received the Newbery Honor, first in 1985 for Moves Make the Man, and again in 1992 for What Hearts. He is also the author of Everywhere, Midnight Hour Encores, Asylum for Nightface, Vanishing, and Throwing Smoke. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

FROM THE CRITICS

Horn Book

[This novel] really hits home.

Publishers Weekly

As the urge to win gradually overtakes pitcher Whiz, he begins printing up baseball cards for fictional players with dream stats and they begin to materialize, bringing with them a winning streak for his team. "Baseball fans may appreciate the message of Brooks's latest," wrote PW, "but the author's followers may be disappointed at the sketchy characterizations here." Ages 10-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Baseball fans may appreciate the message of Brooks's latest, but the author's followers may be disappointed at the sketchy characterizations here. As the novel opens, pitcher Vincent Cary--aka "Whiz"--and his shortstop pal Eddie "E6" Marchant take the baseball field to practice before the opening game for the Breadhurst Newts, after last season's 0-10 record. While E6 is satisfied with the team's original goal of getting together to simply play ball (all but two players had been cut from other teams), Whiz fantasizes about a winning season. After practice, Whiz heads to his part-time job at a printing shop to make baseball cards with each teammate's statistics, and Brooks foreshadows the connection between Whiz's vocation and avocation: "Sometimes, when Whiz encountered one of the players in the flesh soon after reading his or her card, he let himself feel for a moment that the words had created a player to match them." As the urge to win gradually overtakes Whiz, he begins printing up baseball cards for fictional players with dream stats--and they begin to materialize, bringing with them a winning streak for the team. Brooks convincingly demonstrates the fallout when players become more focused on winning than on loving the game for its own sake. However, aside from the relationship between E6 and Whiz, the dynamics between individual players--even twin sisters Phoebe and Wren--are not developed. The immediacy and involvement that goes along with team sports, conveyed so compellingly in Brooks's Wolfbay Wings series goes missing here. Ages 9-up. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Children's Literature - Childrens Literature

The Breadhurst Newts had a miserable debut baseball season, and this year's prospects don't look much better. Each player is good at one aspect of the game, but that skill is outweighed by glaring fundamental weaknesses. Whiz has great control but no velocity; his pitches get socked out of the park with regularity. E6 has a wicked bat but can't handle a ground ball at shortstop. Dragon can't do much of anything on the field but he keeps the team in stitches with his great sense of humor. Whiz, who works at a printer's shop, decides to create some baseball cards that feature the sort of players he would have on his team. Things get really wild when his made-up players begin showing up on the practice field. Suddenly the Newts go on a winning streak. The only problem is, the fun seems to have gone out of the game. The Newts learn the hard way that winning isn't everything, and that friendships last a lot longer than a baseball season. 2000, Laura Geringer/HarperCollins, Ages 9 up, $15.95. Reviewer: Christopher Moning—Children's Literature

VOYA

Whiz is concerned about his baseball team, the winless Breadhurst Newts. He recognizes that each player possesses at least one skill, but even taken together, these skills are not enough to fill the holes in the team's overall ability. Frustrated by continuing losses, he secretly goes to the print shop where he works after school to develop a truly fantastic idea. Creating a baseball card for each member of the team, he decides to produce an extra card for a new player with the pitching skills the team needs. The next day, Ace, a pitcher with great control and speed, shows up. Still stymied by the lack of hitting and fielding, Whiz soon adds more cards, and three more players with the requisite skills appear. His old teammates more readily recognize that the new players lack heart and team spirit, and that playing is no longer fun. It takes a while for Whiz to realize that winning is not everything. Brooks focuses mostly on playing the game of baseball and the emotions involved. Totally young-person driven—the characters are eleven years old—there are no adults in the book. The dialogue is sharp, fast moving, and intelligent. For such a short book, the characters are well delineated, and the baseball cards for each player that are scattered throughout the book add to the reader's growing knowledge of each character. The book is perfect for booktalking and group discussion of its message, the characters' lives outside of baseball, and the several meanings of the title. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2000, HarperCollins, 136p, $15.95. Ages 12 to 14. Reviewer: SusanH. Levine

SOURCE: VOYA, December 2000 (Vol. 23, No. 5) Read all 7 "From The Critics" >