Teen Fiction - Choices & Transitions, Teen Fiction - Sports, Teen Fiction - Sexuality

7 Days at the Hot Corner

Name: 7 Days at the Hot Corner
Author: Terry Trueman
ISBN: 9780060574949

by Terry Trueman

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Overview

In baseball, fielding your position at third base is tricky—that's why third is called "the hot corner." You have to be aware that anything can happen at any time.

This should be the best year of Scott's life: It's his last season of varsity ball, his team is about to go to the city championship, and a pro career is on the line. Instead, everything he always counted on comes crashing down at the same time, and his whole life is like one blazing hot corner—full of deadly line drives and crazy "bad hops."

Scott can't believe the awful stuff coming his way, but it's time to find out whether he has what it takes to play the hot corner—on the baseball diamond and off it.

Synopsis

In baseball, fielding your position at third base is tricky that's why third is called "the hot corner." You have to be aware that anything can happen at any time.

Scott can't believe the awful stuff coming his way, but it's time to find out whether he has what it takes to play the hot corner on the baseball diamond and off it.

Publishers Weekly

With a compelling twist on a coming-out story, Trueman's (Stuck in Neutral) novel stars 18-year-old Scott Latimer, a baseball fanatic who plays third base (the "hot corner" of the title) for his high school's team. Scott's world is thrown into disarray when his best friend, Travis, reveals that he's gay during the citywide baseball tournament. Now, in addition to worrying about playing well in the seven-day tournament, Scott anxiously awaits the results of an HIV test that he gets in secret: he fears he may have contracted AIDS after a batting cage incident, in which he wound up with Travis's blood on his hands. When Travis's parents kick their son out of the house, thinking he may influence his younger brother, Travis moves in with Scott's family, causing additional tension between the two best friends. An article in the high school newspaper anonymously relates Travis's struggles as a gay high school senior, and Scott fears that his classmates might think he's gay as well if they discover the article is about Travis. Scott wrestles with gripping fear about potentially having contracted AIDS, anger that his best friend kept his sexuality a secret from him for so many years, confusion about his own and his fellow classmates' prejudices, and concern for Travis's safety. Readers will likely be affected by this emotional journey of a kid who would have been happy to limit his concerns to catching blazing line drives and working toward a shot at the major leagues. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)

About the Author, Terry Trueman

Terry Trueman was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He attended the University of Washington, where he received his B.A. in creative writing. He also has an M.S. in applied psychology and an M.F.A. in creative writing, both from Eastern Washington University. The father of two sons, Henry Sheehan and Jess, Terry Trueman makes his home in Spokane, Washington, with his wife, Patti. His previous books are No Right Turn, Cruise Control, Inside Out, and Stuck in Neutral, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

VOYA - Debbie Clifford

Scott, a senior third baseman on the varsity team, is awaiting an AIDS test at the public health clinic. His best friend, Travis, has revealed anonymously in the school newspaper that he is gay but shows the article to Scott as his way of telling him. Scott remembers a recent incident when he had come into contact with Travis' blood. Now he has to wait seven days before getting the test results. Scott spends the time trying to figure out how he feels about Travis. In baseball, the "hot corner" refers to third base, to which right-handed hitters will hit the ball hard. The third baseman has to be ready for anything-balls can hop or line drive or anything in between. Scott feels as if his life off the baseball diamond is something of a hot corner. He has to field his feelings of betrayal, fear, and bigotry as well as concentrate on the city baseball championship tournament. The story is told in Scott's voice, taking the reader along on his roller-coaster ride of emotions-the highs of winning at baseball, the lows of dealing with his feelings about Travis, and the terror of watching the homophobic reaction of some teammates. Teen readers will identify with Scott as they come to see him as a decent guy, and they will want things to work out for him. It is a gripping read that could open up meaningful discussions about prejudice and acceptance.

Judith A. Hayn

This page-turner opens with Scott, a senior in high school, nervously sitting in the waiting room of the Spokane Public Health building to take an AIDS test. His best friend Travis has outed himself in an anonymous interview published in the school newspaper, and his parents asked him to leave home because they are worried he will negatively influence his younger brother. Scott's dad is allowing Travis to live with them, much to Scott's discomfort. During impromptu practice at the batting cage, Travis gets hit and develops a massive nosebleed. Scott now fears the worst result of an unexpected homosexual encounter and gets tested. The novel follows Scott during the seven days he must wait for the results. He is the third baseman on the undefeated high school baseball team, and Trueman highlights the plot with baseball action, sports allusions, and flashbacks. This is the powerful, well-written story of a young man who plays the "hot corner," a reference to both his baseball position and the tense place he finds himself in life. As a bonus, myths about AIDS are dispelled with accurate information.

KLIATT - Paula Rohrlick

Playing third base is so tricky it's known as "the hot corner." Scott, a high school senior, plays varsity baseball and aspires to play professionally, but suddenly his position on the field isn't the only difficult place in which he finds himself. His best friend Travis has just come out as gay, to Scott's complete surprise, and Scott is panicked that because Travis got blood on him a few months back as a result of a minor injury, Scott might have HIV. Meanwhile, Travis's parents have kicked him out of the house, and Travis has come to live with Scott's family, even though Scott, angry and confused, can hardly bear to talk to him. Travis accuses Scott of living in a "fantasyland," oblivious to everything but baseball, but over the course of a week Scott learns to appreciate what's really important in his life. Trueman, the acclaimed author of Stuck in Neutral, Inside Out, and Cruise Control, is unafraid of tackling big issues, and he does a good job of conveying Scott's conflicted feelings about his friend's revelation even if the novel does come across as rather didactic. The baseball action and metaphors may help draw in readers who wouldn't otherwise pick up a tale about coming out and accepting others as they are. Some expletives, but there's nothing sexually explicit here.