Havana Curveball. 60 min. Dist. by PatchWorks Films. 2014. $89 (with PPR). $39.95 (no PPR). ISBN 3621179767. Gr 5 Up–In this documentary, how can Cuba, baseball, a bar mitzvah, and a grandfather be connected into one fabulous story? For his upcoming bar mitzvah, Mica Schneider from California’s Bay Area decides to send baseball equipment to Cuba for his community service project. (He loves baseball.) His grandfather lived in the island nation as a child refugee from Nazi Germany, which led to the idea for this project. Due to political embargoes, Mica’s generous donations for Cuban children can’t be directly shipped. Determination propels his family on a road trip up to Canada, where the packages can be legally sent. Months go by with no word that the parcels have been delivered, and Mica teeters on defeat. Undaunted, he seeks out philanthropic agencies that provide aid to Cuba, and eventually he and his journalist father travel there. Grandfather declines the invitation to join them, another emotional setback for Mica, but father and son arrive in Cuba to distribute more sports equipment. There the teen meets enterprising Cuban boys who are also crazy for baseball. They play with masking-taped balls and cardboard mitts, so Mica’s new or used donations are met with extreme excitement, even greed. All the emotional “bases” are voiced by Mica in his sage, prescient narration. The beautiful interlacing of cultural traditions and baseball’s appeal make this an inspiring tale. Directed by Mica’s filmmaker parents, Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider, this film superbly demonstrates what one 13-year-old can do to overcome daunting obstacles and make the world a better place.–Robin Levin, U.S. Holocaust Museum