Kurtis Scaletta

ROOTING FOR RAFAEL ROSALES by Kurtis Scaletta tells the connected stories of a boy with a passion for baseball and a girl who becomes a fan.
Told as connected stories, readers learn about the dreams of two young people. One hopes to become a professional baseball player and the other struggles to save the world’s bee population.
Librarians will find the connected narratives and compelling characters make this an unusually emotional story. The mix of the baseball and bee themes contribute to the appeal.
Published by Albert Whitman & Company on April 25, 2017. ARC courtesy of the publisher.… (mere)

It’s science fair time but Jim’s best friend Oliver always wants to build robots so he chooses a girl partner named Rocky. He “borrows” cameras from his father’s security business and places them in a hidden junkyard in an attempt to study otters for their project. They don’t find any otters, but discover strange noises and movement coming from this allegedly deserted scientific corporation. What they uncover unites these friends as they use their combined wits to build a gigantic, war-ready, dinosaur-like robot in attempt to defeat the forces of evil. The Winter of the Robots is a wonderful adventure that will keep tweens and other readers turning pages until the end.

Sharyn H. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

… (mere)

Two stories, from two points of view, eight years apart, are told in this baseball story. Rafael, an 11-year-old in the Dominican Republic, is passionate about baseball and dreams of being recruited by American major league baseball. Maya lives in Minnesota and becomes a fan of Rafael's when she sees him play in a minor league game. Maya is quite worried about the decline of bees and decides unrealistically (she knows) that if Rafael's is successful, it will lead to prosperity for the bees.
For some reason the storyline with Maya and her older sister Grace (a baseball blogger) seems stronger than Rafael's storyline. Because you know Rafael will fulfill his dream, perhaps that makes his story more shallow. Even Rafael's brother Iván seems to be a more nuanced character.
Baseball fans with definitely enjoy this.… (mere)

I love books where all sorts of little elements are set in place, and then they all come together and everything fits and you just sit back and admire it. For me, Mudville was one of those books. It's got a town where it never stops raining, curses, a dad who can't cook, old rivalries, and lots and lots of baseball. And it all melds together into an engaging and surprisingly (for me) exciting story. I say surprisingly because I personally am not the world's biggest baseball fan. But because of the contagious enthusiasm of the characters, I loved it along with them in MUDVILLE. I am so glad I had the chance to read this book!… (mere)