The Hurricanes of Weakerville

Smart but easily flustered, Alex can scarcely put two coherent sentences together when speaking with anyone but his parents, his best friend, or 86-year-old Grandpa Ira. Everyone in Weakerville knows Ira, who seldom sits in the owner's box at Mustard Park, where the Hurricanes play independent league baseball. Instead, he roams the stands, talking with fans and especially with Alex, who analyzes the Hurricanes. After Ira's death, Alex learns that he is to manage the team, which is in a slump, and that the Hurricanes' future existence depends on making the playoffs. He takes on the challenge with help from his best friend, who knows nothing about baseball but everything about Alex, and a 13-year-old girl who understands pitching better than many seasoned players. Readers will quickly warm up to Alex, whose self-deprecating humor brightens his perceptive first-person narrative. The story's pace is leisurely until he starts managing the team, overcoming obstacles while trying to live up to his beloved grandfather's example of caring about people. A middle-grade baseball novel that's more heart-to-heart than play-by-play.

A young baseball superfan realizes his dream, but is he up to the challenge? Alex Weakerman comes by his love of baseball naturally. His elderly Grandpa Ira owns the Weakerville, Iowa, Hurricanes, "the greatest independent professional baseball team in the whole world," in Alex's not-so-humble opinion. This doesn't mean that Alex is a skilled athlete. He still harbors memories of childhood sports ineptitude under the watchful eye of Aliyah Perkins, the sportiest girl in Weakerville. When Ira passes away, the team is inherited by his brother-in-law, wealthy (and very tan) used-car magnate Parnell "Tex" Cohaagen, who is as flamboyant as his name implies. Alex fears for the team's future, doubly so when Ira's will stipulates the firing of Hurricanes manager Buddy LeForge. Tex pitches a mind-blowing curveball when he reveals Ira's second stipulation: that Alex be hired as the team's manager. Buoyed by the encouragement of his best bud, Slips, Alex stumbles into the unknown, one step at a time. With Ira's notes to guide him and a newly enlisted Aliyah also at his side, how can he possibly fail? Rylander fills his warm coming-of-age story with crackly sports slang and tucks colorful minor characters into the nooks and crannies. Lovable nerd Alex is an ideal first-person narrator, infusing his tale with wonder and joy as well as an insider's knowledge of the game. Slips immigrated from Poland; characters seem to default to White. A peppy, inspirational tale with a sports backdrop. (Fiction. 10-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.