The Rhino in Right Field

Gr 3-5—Going to Greek school and working at his dad's store are part of 12-year-old Nick Spirakis's routine, but baseball is everything to him. Nick is excited to enter a competition to become "batboy-for-a-day" for the local adult minor league baseball team, the Mudpuppies, but it takes place on a weekend when Nick is supposed to help out in at the store. Complicating matters is Tank the Rhino, the 2,000-pound rhinoceros who lives in the city zoo adjacent to the field where Nick and his friends play ball. Nick is petrified of the creature. In order to enter the contest, Nick will have to lie and manipulate his friends and family. The details about Greek culture enrich the story. DeKeyser skillfully melds historical details of 1948 Milwaukee with fast-paced action and humor, giving readers a window into life in that era. Themes involving parental expectations, friendly competition among peers, and learning to find the right balance between family and social circles make this accessible and relatable. The author's note explains that Nick's story and historical era details are loosely based on DeKeyser's own father's life. VERDICT A recommended purchase for large middle grade collections. Hand to readers looking for historical fiction or baseball tales.—Eva Thaler-Sroussi, Needham Free Public Library, MA

It's 1948, and 12-year-old Nick is chafing under his Greek immigrant parents' rule that he work at his father's shop on Saturdays. Instead, Nick wants to play baseball with his friends, even though their field butts up against the town zoo and fly balls can end up in Tank the rhino's pen, requiring the boys to hop the fence and outrun Tank to retrieve them. After the town's minor league baseball team is acquired by a new owner, who announces a contest for the opportunity to be batboy on opening day, Nick longs to enter and is bitterly disappointed to learn that the contest is on a Saturday. But when his arch-nemesis, Pete, taunts him about the contest, Nick is determined to find a way to realize his dream. Dekeyser (The Brixen Witch) based this funny and good-hearted story that warmly portrays life as the son of Greek immigrants on her father's childhood growing up in Milwaukee. Details such as the five-cent charge for new shoelaces bring the era to life, and the conclusion hits the story out of the park. Ages 8-12. (July)