Akron Public Library

"Jack and Annie use the magic tree house to travel back in time to 1947 Brooklyn, New York, where they pretend to be batboys at Jackie Robinson's first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves"--

Thus begins the new novel from John Grisham, a story inspired by his own childhood in rural Arkansas. The narrator is a farm boy name Luke Chandler, age seven, who lives in the cotton fields with his parents and grandparents in a little house that's never been painted. The Chandlers farm eighty acres that they rent, not own, and when the cotton is ready they hire a truck-load of Mexicans and a family from the Ozarks to help harvest it. For six weeks...

Jack the mischievous rabbit serves as bat boy and Rex the dog helps in left field during a baseball game between the Lady City Ladies and the Big City Brats.

Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof.

"Digger wants to play baseball with his friends. But he isn't allowed to go out until he's cleaned his room. Digger starts cleaning at top speed, but the faster he moves the messier his room gets. His big tail and big feet aren't helping! Will Digger win the race to tidy his room and get to the game on time?"--Publisher's statement on Amazon.com.

Moving to Hillcrest, Ohio, when his adoptive father accepts a temporary job, twelve-year-old Jeremiah, a heart transplant recipient, has sixty days to find a baseball team to coach.

Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy.

Young Derek Jeter's friendship with a new student puts him at odds with his friends and seems to be hurting his baseball swing, plus he gets in trouble for confronting a student who is bullying his sister, in violation of the contract with his parents.

Eight-year-old Steve Satlow is thrilled when Jackie Robinson moves into his Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn in 1948, although many of his neighbors are not, and when Steve actually meets his hero he is even more excited--and worried that a misunderstanding over a Christmas tree could damage his new friendship.

"You wanna know who threw the fastest pitch ever? " Many baseball players claim that Satchel Paige was the fastest pitcher in the history of the game. Stosh and his coach, Flip Valentini, are on a mission to find out. With radar gun in tow, they travel back to 1942 and watch Satch pitch to power hitter Josh Gibson in the Negro League World Series. They soon learn that everything about Satch is fast-whether it's his talking, driving, or getaways. But...