The book gets off to a bit of a slow start but then the mystery begins to build and it suddenly became a page turner. The plot is different and clever where a small community is having a celebration involving the town children in a play that conflicts with the one and only baseball game played annually. So how can both happen and make everyone happy. ( )

Audio review: Too much Walt Whitman and baseball action for me, but Kate Jackson's narration (yes, Kate Jackson of Charlie's Angels!) gives the story a warm, Southern small-town folksiness.

House Jackson and his pals are readying for their one baseball game of the year against the Red Bugs. Unfortunately, the Aurora County 100th birthday pageant may supplant the ball game with the support of the mothers who have sworn their kids will participate. House finds a way to a “true symphony,” a way for both events to be held, thanks to the words of Walt Whitman, the memory of his late mother, and the reclusive Mr. Boyd, to whom he had been secretly reading aloud until the man’s death.
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Wonderful wonderful book. Author of Love Ruby Lavender another favorite. Chapter start with quotes from baseball or Leaves of Grass. Deborah Wiles is a genius! Long may she live and write. ( )

Love this author and I love her characters and setting in her books. All her books connected by certain characters. Lots of baseball history in this one. Small town relationships. ( )

I enjoyed the story about the importance of life and working together. However it has little kid appeal. My boys didn't even want me to finish after reading 3/4 of the book. ( )