Mr Strike Out

Description

David Gray is notorious in his baseball league notorious for strike outs both as a pitcher and a batter. After learning about the great Babe Ruth David becomes determined to become a good allaround player which means he'll have to learn how to bat. Pumped-up easy-to-read sports stories with an emphasis on speed skill and fair play. The boys in these books face challenges on and off the racetrack. Following the worlds fastest-growing sport readers and fans alike will discover that an athlete's steady hand persistence and courage are just as important as crossing the finish line

Who is Jake Maddox? Athlete, author, world-traveler - or all three? He has surfed in Hawaii, scuba-dived in Australia, and climbed the mountains of Peru and Alaska. His books range from the most popular team sports to outdoor activities to survival adventures and even to auto racing. His exploits have inspired numerous writers to walk in his footsteps - literally! Each of his stories is stamped with teamwork, fair play, and a strong sense of self-worth and discipline. Always a team-player, Maddox realizes it takes more than one man (or woman) to create a book good enough for a young reader. He hopes the lessons learned on the court, field, or arena and the champion sprinter pace of his books can motivate kids to become better athletes and lifelong readers. Sean Tiffany has worked as an illustrator for more than twenty-five years. He has illustrated more than sixty children's books for Capstone and has been an instructor at the famed Joe Kubert School in northern New Jersey. He mixes his love of comics, art, and rock and roll in the multimedia project OilCan Drive. Raised on a small island off the coast of Maine, Sean now resides in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Monika, their son, James, and a house full of entirely too many guitars.

At the time of review, six chapter books comprised the sports character education collection written under the pen name of Jake Maddox for male reluctant readers. As I read the stories, I could hear the fourth grade students assign a score for the writing style as two out of four. The range of reading levels in the series is 1.1 to 2.8. Each book in the series contains a glossary, further information, discussion questions, writing prompts, and Internet sites. Each story involves a boy who eventually succeeds at his given sport of hockey, basketball, BMX, football, baseball, or skateboarding. Additional Selection-- "Library Media Connection"