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Synopsis
Left fielder Barry McGee enjoys being the Peach Street Mudders' hit-away batter. In fact, he likes being a hero so much that he tends to bend the rules a little. His sister's constant nagging about his cheating is forgotten when Barry meets up with Alec Frost, a pitcher for a rival team. Alec steals something from Barry's family and then challenges him to win it back by hitting two homeruns off him in the unpcoming game. Now Barry wants to win more than ever. Will he play fair and risk losing his pride as well as the stolen object?
Children's Literature
No one sees Barry drop a catch that helped them win the game, except his sister. Luckily, his sister does not tell anyone, though Barry was worried that Susan would rat him out to their parents later that night. Barry decides he needs to come clean to his parents anyway, and not just because he is worried that his sister will tattle on him, but because he feels he needs to admit what he did wrong and find a way to make up for it. But things quickly spiral out of control when Barry makes a crazy bet to get a toy back from a rival pitcher. Barry does not believe that he will be able to hit two home runs off Alec and during the game later that week, Barry manages only to hit one. They still have a chance to win, but Barry misses second base while heading for home and deliberately gets tagged out later in the game to make up for it. When he confesses his reasons for the error to the coach later, Alec overhears and returns the toy despite the fact that Barry lost the bet. This reprint of Christopher's short novel provides children an important lesson in admitting mistakes and will appeal to fans of sports and baseball in particular. Reviewer: Danielle Williams