Book Cover for Keeping Score

Newbery Winning Author, Linda Sue Park, has done it again in this new book entitled, Keeping Score. From a family of baseball fans, Margaret Olivia was named to have the nickname Maggie-O, after Joe DiMaggio. Her father may be a Yankees fan, but she loves the Dodgers, afterall she is growing up in Brooklyn in the early 1950s. Maggie-O could quite possibly be the biggest Dodgers fan because of the scorebooks she learns to keep from a family friend, Jim. Unfortunately Jim ends up getting drafted to serve during the Korean War. Maggie writes letters mostly about baseball. It seems that baseball is the tie that binds family and friends together. Perhaps it can help heal war wounds too.

I loved this story and I am not a sports fan, but this book made me want to love baseball! Even though the main character is a girl, there are enough strong male character in the story to hold some boys interest. I’m sure our young guy readers would rather read this than Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree. Plus the subjects, war and baseball might entice many boy readers. Not too sappy of a read, but I did get misty eyed at a part about the war. I should create a cry-ometer scale for rating books.