Review: Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (Koertge)

Title: Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
Author: Ron Koertge
Genre: YA fiction, sports
Pages: 116 (written in verse)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Challenges: YA
FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my school's library
Summary (from the back of the book): At fourteen, Kevin Boland is a straight-talking MVP first baseman who can't tell a ballad from a salad. But when he is diagnosed with mono and is forced to spend months at home recuperating, Kevin secretly borrows his father's poetry book and starts writing, just to pass the time. Inside the book, Kevin discovers more than haiku and sonnets. He gains insight--sometimes humorous, sometimes painful--as he records his candid observations on junior-high romance, daydreams of baseball stardom, and sorrow over the recent death of his mother, and learns how words can open doors to the soul.

Review: I was bad. I read this book while watching a movie. But, it was Fever Pitch (based on the Nick Hornby book. Does that count as reading the book Fever Pitch? Guess not.), which is about baseball so I was reading and watching about baseball. Pretty crazy.

I liked this book. It's written in verse, which is appropriate since it's about a guy discovering poetry. But, that sounds lame and this book isn't. Kevin writes about his discovery of language, girls, his dad as a person (and not just a dad), about school, about baseball, about friends and friendships, and more. I liked that Koertge allows his male characters to be tough, into sports, and guy-like, but he also allows them emotion, insecurity, and some introspection.