Friday, January 30, 2009

Top of the Order John Coy


Top of the Order by John Coy Jackson, Gig and Issac are best friends. Diego, the new kid is accepted into the group. The four friends play baseball for the Panthers. A problem arises when Gig's younger sister, Sydney plays second place for the Panthers. Jackson must find a why to make everything okay with Gig, so the team can have a good season. Coy calls a great game, baseball fans will easily see the plays. Yes this book is about baseball but we also learn about the characters off the field. 10 yr old Jackson's parents are divorced. He's shuttles between two homes and must deal with his mother dating. Gig's father is in the National Guard and has been called upon to serve in the Middle East. The four friends will be going to starting middle school next year. Isaac's dad wants him to go to a different middle school from his friends. Diego must work and can't make every practice. The lunch scenes were very well done, Coy does an excellent job of showing the bond between the friends. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Jackson's learns of the futureme website. It allows people to send a message to their future self. Jackson checks it out reading different messages. It inspires him to write his own futureme message. Young sport fans will really enjoy this book. Coy has created very believable characters and dialogue that will grab hold of at least a few reluctant readers. I was pleasantly surprised at the end to discover there may be more books to come. This would be good for ages 8up. Top of the Order will be released in March 2009. Just in time for the beginning of the baseball season.


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