âLaugh-out-loud funâŚA winner in every way.â âKirkus Reviews (starred review)
âFunny and good-hearted.â âPublishers Weekly
A boy who loves baseball must get past his hard-working immigrant parentsâand the rhino in the outfieldâto become a batboy in this laugh-out-loud middle grade novel in the tradition of The Sandlot.
Nick wants to change his life. For twelve years, heâs done what his hard-working, immigrant parents want him to do. Now heâs looking for his own American dream and he thinks heâs found it. The local baseball team is having a batboy contest, and Nick wants to win.
But the contest is on a Saturdayâthe day Nick has to work in his fatherâs shop. Thereâs one other tinyâwell, not so tinyâproblem. A 2,000-pound rhinoceros named Tank. Nick and his friends play ball in the city zooâand Tank lives just beyond the right field fence. Nickâs experience getting the ball out of Tankâs pen has left him frozen with fear whenever a fly ball comes his way. Howâs a lousy fielder going to win the contest?
Nick practices every day with his best friend, Ace, and a new girl who has an impressive throwing arm! But thatâs not enoughâto get to the contest, Nick has to lie to his parents and blackmail his uncle. All while dodging the school bully, whoâs determined to win even by playing dirty. Nick will need to keep his eye on the ball in this fast, funny story about a game that can throw you some curveballsâjust like life!