Free Baseball Explained

Free Baseball is a children's novel by Sue Corbett, first published in 2006.

Plot summary

Felix is a Cuban boy who came to the USA with his mother when he was three years old. He has a passion for baseball and wins two tickets to a minor-league baseball game via a radio competition. Going to the game with his babysitter, they become separated when Felix learns that the opposing team has a Cuban player, believing that he might be able to share information about Felix's father, a famous baseball player on the Cuban national team who stayed behind when Felix and his mother emigrated.

Development

Corbett had the idea for the book after an incident at a baseball game when she became separated from her daughter Karina and was able to find her as all of the children were wearing the cok (the team name) team shirts.^[1]

Reception

School Library Journal described the novel as an "engaging, well-written story with a satisfying ending."^[2] The Topeka Capital-Journal called it a "wonderful mix of self-discovery and baseball."^[3] Kids Reads thought that Felix was a "richly drawn character".^[4]

Awards and nominations

• 2006 Selected by the Junior Library Guild^[5]
• 2008 Nominated for the Young Hoosier Book Award (final results not yet announced)^[6]
• 2008 Nominated for the Virginia Readers Choice Award (final results not yet announced)^[7]
• 2009 Nominated for the Nutmeg Book Award (final results not yet announced)^[8]

External links

• Official site

Notes and References

1. Web site: Author Interview: Sue Corbett on Free Baseball . 2008-06-17 . 2006-02-06 . Cynthia Leitich Smith.BlogSpot.com.
2. Web site: Grades 5 & Up . 2008-06-17 . 2006-02-01 . School Library Journal.
3. Web site: Soothe baseball fever with words . 2008-06-17 . 2006-07-11 . The Topeka Capital-Journal.
4. Web site: Free Baseball by Sue Corbett . 2008-06-17 . Kids Reads.
5. http://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/ Junior Library Guild
6. Web site: Young Hoosier Book Award . 2008-06-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080609004822/http://www.ilfonline.org/AIME/YHBA/YHBA.htm . 2008-06-09 . dead .
7. Web site: Virginia Readers Choice Award . 2008-06-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080511165328/http://vsra.org/VRCindex.html . 2008-05-11 . dead .
8. http://www.nutmegaward.org/ Nutmeg Book Award