Book Pick--Under the Baseball Moon by John H. Ritter
From SLJ July 2006 (Starred Review)
Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego -- School Library Journal, 7/3/2006
RITTER, John H. Under the Baseball Moon. 281p. CIP. Philomel. 2006. Tr $16.99. ISBN 0-399-23623-6. LC 2005027183.
Gr 7-10–Skateboarding Andy Ramos, an aspiring teen trumpeter whose understanding parents and loving, late grandfather were musicians, forms a "fusion music" band (mixture of hip-hop, Latin jazz, and rock) called "FuChar Skool" with two like-minded friends. At the same time, he meets up with Glory Martinez, a former neighbor in San Diego's funky, honky-tonk Ocean Beach neighborhood who has just returned to the area. When he and Glory were in elementary school, she was a great embarrassment to him, but now she has matured and become a promising softball pitcher. Gradually Andy develops a close and somewhat codependent relationship with her–Glory needs Andy's trumpet riffs at her games to pitch effectively and he needs her to be present at his performances. Ritter adds to this mix three offbeat, strangely omniscient tricksters–a Croatian fortune-teller who speaks in riddles; a street "Holy Jokester" who speaks in jive rhymes; and Max Lucero, a mysterious, ominous figure who attempts to buy Andy's soul by guaranteeing his musical success at all costs. Sparkling with descriptions of music improvisation and softball action, and with expressive, idiomatic Spanglish dialogue, Andy's poetic first-person narrative superbly catches the weird uniqueness of Ocean Beach and briskly moves the somewhat overlong story to a satisfying conclusion.
