Snow is still on the ground where I live, but March is urging Spring to take over so we can hear those magic words: Play Ball!  Little league sing-ups are well under way and our major league teams are in training camp preparing for the upcoming season. What better way to feed one’s passion than a selection of four recent middle grade books with a baseball theme (Click on a book cover for more info).

It’s the bottom of the ninth, bases are loaded, and your team is down by three―who do you want coming up to bat? Baseball Biographies for Kids answers this question and more!

Bursting with statistics and impressive feats from the greatest players of the last 60 years, this lineup of inspirational baseball biographies shows you what it takes to be a real MVP. Discover the ultimate dream team as you explore the best pros for each position. You’ll also get quick looks into some truly legendary baseball players and lots of fun facts!

Baseball Biographies for Kids includes:

• Modern stars, real stories―From Cal Ripken Jr. to David Ortiz, you’ll discover the players who truly defined the game.
• Tons of stats―Each biography includes critical info, including games played, ERA, hits, and more.
• Draft your own all-star team―Fill out the included starting lineup sheet with your picks for each position.

These baseball biographies really knock it out of the park for big fans and aspiring players!

A cloud hangs over Jack as he begins fifth grade. Two boys from his class, Steve and Cliff, who began bullying him last spring, harass him again as soon as school starts. They take brownies and cookies from his lunch and call him “Mustard” because they think he’s a coward. When Jack walks a different route to school to avoid them, they find him anyway. When he doesn’t take a lunch but brings lunch money, they steal his money. When he rides his bike to school, they let the air out of the tires. Jack is miserable but he’s ashamed to ask for help and doesn’t want to tell anyone about his problem.

Lizabeth and C.J are Jack’s best friends. C.J. has his own problems. He needs help to learn reading, and Steve makes fun of him, calling him “Retardo.” A new boy in school, Hans Ollig from Germany, speaks only a little English and is trying hard to learn to talk like the other kids. Jack is assigned to show him around the school.

Members of Jack’s family are all baseball fans and tremendously excited that the Colorado Rockies are going to be in the World Series. Jack’s uncle has given him an old glove from his high school days. When Jack takes the glove to school, it disappears.

Jack and his fifth grade buddies welcome a new student, Hans, into their group. Hans speaks only a little English but is enthusiastic and a quick learner. All of them are baseball fans and thrilled that their Colorado Rockies team will be in the World Series.

Jack and his buddies must find a way to get his baseball glove back and celebrate at the World Series as a team.

Mike and Kate arrive in Colorado to a ballpark covered in snow! Luckily, the stadium has a heater that can melt the fluffy flakes in time for next day’s game. But when the ballpark engineers get a mysterious note saying that someone may tamper with the scoreboard, the snow becomes the least of the cousins’ problems. It’s time for Mike and Kate to switch into sleuth mode and solve a mystery that will take them underground, a mile above sea level, and even face to face with a dinosaur!

Thirteen-year-old Satoshi Matsumoto spent the last three years living in Atlanta where he was the star of his middle-school baseball team―a slugger with pro potential, according to his coach. Now that his father’s work in the US has come to an end, he’s moved back to his hometown in rural Japan. Living abroad has changed him, and now his old friends in Japan are suspicious of his new foreign ways. Even worse, his childhood foe Shintaro, whose dad has ties to gangsters, is in his homeroom. After he joins his new school’s baseball team, Satoshi has a chance to be a hero until he makes a major-league error.

I’ll have a review of this last title on our next MARVELOUS MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY. Join us if you are blogging about middle grade books or authors. Here’s how to sign up:

If you would like to join in the MMGM fun, all you have to do is blog about a middle grade book on a Monday (contests, author interviews, or anything middle grade related also count). Email me the title of the book or feature and a link to your blog at gpcolo[at]gmail[dot]com

Make sure you put MMGM or Marvelous Middle Grade Monday in the subject line so it gets sorted accurately–and please don’t forget to say what book or author you’re featuring) You MUST email me your link by Sunday evening (11 PM Eastern Time) in order to be included in the list of links for the coming Monday.

Thanks for spreading the middle grade love and for being a part of this awesome tradition begun by Shannon Messenger and carried on here at ALWAYS in the MIDDLE! (CLICK HERE FOR PAST MMGM POSTS)

*Please note: these posts are not a reflection of my own opinions on the books featured. Each blogger is responsible for their own MMGM content and I do not pre-screen reviews ahead of time, nor do I control what books they choose. I simply assemble the list based on the links that are emailed to me.