Shakespeare Bats Cleanup Paperback – February 14, 2006

My son read this book to fulfill the reading requirements for school (one poetry book per quater). He was not thrilled that he had to read a poetry book but ended up liking this one very much. Since it is written in free-verse, it reads like a story rather than a poem. My son ended up reading the follow-up on this book as well: Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs. I recommend both books for any Middle School student!

Great book. Worked well for a student I tutored who was a reluctant reader with a high interest in baseball. I would recommend for 6-8 grades since the main character goes on a date.

This was a clever way of telling a coming of age story.

This was a really cute book to use at the end of the year with my 6/7th graders when time is limited and they are hitting check-out mode!

Perfect

love it

As a teacher and librarian it is always awesome when authors write books that can be used in the classroom. There are great examples of all different types of poetry here:* Pantoum* Blank Verse* Haiku* Couplets* Sestina* Elegyand much more! Both books have wonderful, fluid story lines and it is awesome to watch Kevin (who strictly identified himself as an athlete) discover the magic of poetry.I recommend this book for any parent, teacher or librarian who wants to have books about poetry that are great for reluctant readers because lets face it, telling a kid that you have a great book about poetry for them will probably result in a look of slight terror.At a non-imposing 115 pages, Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is an easy sell because it has sports for the guys and a little romance for the girls. For those kids who enjoy a tear-jerker there is also plenty of poetry/story line about Kevin's mom who has passed away and how he and his father are dealing with it.I've recently dedicated a whole section in my library to books written in prose. You would be surprised how many there are out there and these two books will be part of the star attraction. Get these books now, seriously....with video games, TV, iPhones and everything else, kids are being exposed to things like poetry less and less. Who knows, maybe the kid you give these books to will be our next great poet!

I teach a verse-novel unit in my eighth-grade class, and I'm always looking out for those which appeal especially to my young men, since not all of them are ready for Beowulf. Helping them understand that poetry is as much their purview as anyone's can be surprisingly difficult considering how much of literary culture has historically been dominated by men. This story of a teenage baseball player who gets momo and has to distance himself from his sport - and then return to it - does a good job of making poetry a form of not-unmanly expression and also introducing different types of poems, ranging from couplets to villanelles. Hearty on boyhood topics: sports, girls, parents, peers.