Friends and Family

Kathy Mackel's A Season of Comebacks tells the story of twelve year Allie, a softball pitching phenom, her ten year old sister, Mol, their Dad, the coach and Chris, Mol's best friend. It is a story about being a good sister, a good parent, and a good friend; it's understanding your limitations and accepting that being the best doesn't preclude you from still having fun. Despite some questionable baseball strategy, A Season of Comebacks is a crisply written story that effective weaves sports and friendship together.


Neil Armstrong is My Uncle & Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino takes place the summer of 1969. Not only is it the year of the moonwalk, it's also the year Tammy's best friend, Kebsie moves away. Kickball is king; friends fight; people are misunderstood. It's hard to be Tammy; sometimes it's hard to like Tammy but I will say even though you can't believe some of the things she says, you root for her from page one. You also root for Muscle Man. This is a book about friendship and forgiveness. It reminded me an awful lot of the neighborhood I grew up in.


Dog Lost by Ingrid Lee is a tough read. Not because of the writing but because Ms. Lee writes about the world of dog fighting. Unfortunately, dog fighting is a reality - people are cruel, the author tells us and yet if we look hard enough, there is hope. Hope may look like a ten year motherless boy, a teenage girl in desperate need of a kidney transplant, an eighty year old widow, an alert and caring police officer, or a sensitive fifth grade teacher. Hope can also be found n a pit bull named Cash. Dog Lost brought me to tears more than once, for much different reasons. A tough read, yes, but a read well worth the time.