An Almost Perfect Game

by Stephen Manes

Overview

What if you and your scorecard could control the biggest baseball game of the year?

There's a wild, weird night of baseball in store for Nottingham Shoppers fan Jake Kratzer. The pennant is on the line, and it's do or die for his favorite team. When Jake takes his place in the stands, he's only hoping for a Shoppers win, a few good hot dogs, and maybe a Fan Appreciation Night prize to top it off.

But when Jake starts marking plays on his scorecard, strange things begin to happen on the field. It seems to him that with a few strokes of his pencil, he can control the game.

Or can he? Jake can't quite figure out why some of his dream plays come true, while others backfire miserably. Can Jake figure out the card's secret in time to lead the Shoppers to victory and help his favorite player make baseball history? Or will the game find a way to throw him one of its classic spitballs?

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014214568
Publisher:	Cadwallader & Stern
Publication date:	04/06/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	162
File size:	459 KB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

STEPHEN MANES is the author of more than thirty books for children and young adults. His Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! won kid-voted awards in five states, is a curriculum staple in American and French schools. The sequel, Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday!, quickly became a Publishers Weekly bestseller. His books have been adapted for stage and television productions.

Manes has had a long career making arcane worlds accessible to the uninitiated. His most recent book is the highly acclaimed Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet. He was one of the creators and co-hosts of the weekly public television series "Digital Duo." He co-wrote the bestselling and much-acclaimed biography Gates: How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry— and Made Himself the Richest Man in America. He wrote long-running columns on personal technology for The New York Times, Forbes, PC World, PC Magazine, and many other publications.

Manes has a degree in cinema from the University of Southern California. His writing credits for the screen include programs for ABC Television and KCET/Los Angeles, as well as the ’seventies classic movie Mother, Jugs & Speed. A native of Pittsburgh, he lives in Seattle.

Editorial Reviews

A valentine to a game that was, and could be again, almost perfect. . . . Manes deftly slips readers into the stands, recreating the authentic flavor of a minor league ball game. . . . Funny incidents and one-liners sparkle throughout . . .

Kirkus Reviews

Manes captures the experience of a family sharing its love and knowledge of baseball and makes it easy to follow the play-by-play action. Filled with baseball lore and jargon, this will appeal to young fans of the game . . .

ALA Booklist

These tales are hits . . . What baseball fan hasn't sat in front of the TV or in the stands, wishing for the power to change the outcome of the game?

Associated Press

An easy-to-read mix of fantasy and baseball that is sure to appeal to many sports-oriented readers.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Manes wonderfully evokes minor-league baseball at its most irrepressible, and the witty, first-person narration helps to carry the story along. For enthusiasts of the sport with a taste for a little fantasy, this will be just the ticket.

School Library Journal