November 1, 2004
Gr 3-6-Joey Gallagher plays center field. When his team's star pitcher is injured, the seventh grader takes over and successfully completes two innings for a win and becomes the hero. Then Jesus arrives from Nicaragua to spend the year with the Gallagher family as a foreign exchange student. Joey adapts quite well-until his guest turns out to be a spectacular baseball player and steals Joey's thunder. There's enough game action to satisfy baseball fans; the school and family scenes are realistically portrayed; and the lessons, including one about appreciating the riches most Americans have in comparison to much of the rest of the world, are integrated well without being preachy. Another hit in a popular series.-Kate Kohlbeck, Randall School, Waukesha, WI
Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2005
In "Champ", Matt, who is living temporarily with his uncle, practices his snowboard technique and contends with a local bully. In "Home", Joey must adjust to his family's Nicaraguan foreign-exchange student, whose baseball skills surpass his own. Both books contain formulaic plots, weak prose, and, in the case of "Home", excessive sentimentality, but there's enough athletic action to please sports fans.
(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)