[[nid:769]]Mythology and baseball merge in this fantastical tale by Pulitzer winner Chabon. In order to save his father, Ethan Feld plays baseball with his friends, travelling on a strange road trip through Summerland.

[[nid:770]]One boy has all the potential, while the other has all the need. Jimmy has been playing his whole life. One day he is out playing with his dad when Seth comes by. The two boys could almost be brothers, except that Seth is bearing a heavy sorrow. A story of the way a game can bring out the best parts of ourselves.

[[nid:771]]In the summer of 1973, "Calico Joe" Castle is dynamite at the plate, hitting home runs at his first three times at bat for the Chicago Cubs. Until he is hit by a pitcher and injured so badly that it ended his career. Thirty years later, a ten-year-old baseball fan, Paul Tracey, tries to discover the truth of this errant pitch, and how it has affected his own life.

[[nid:772]]At 17, Henry Shrimsander plays shortstop of an amateur team in South Dakota. His near-mystical talent for fielding attracts the attention of a player for Westish College, Mike Schwartz. Under Mike's protective wing, Henry thrives, attracting attention from Major League scouts. Until one day, one bad throw, and Henry completely loses his stride.

[[nid:773]]We meet eight-year-old Derek Jeter when he is selected to play with Kalamazoo's Little League Tigers, but not in his preferred position of shortstop. With the help of his parents, who have Derek sign a contract promising that he will maintain a positive attitude, Derek finds a way to transform his disappointment into success.

[[nid:774]]Longtime sports writer Mike Lupica is the author of many gripping sports novels, such as those in the Game Changer series. Each novel in the series focuses on a different sport: Heavy Hitters, seen here, focuses on baseball. Eleven-year-old Ben is off to a rough start when he's hit by a pitch in the first game of the season. But more challenging problems like ahead when the best hitter on the team begins behaving erratically. Other baseball novels by Lupica include Heat and Travel Team.

[[nid:775]]There was no stopping the meteoric rise to baseball fame of nineteen-year-old Roy Hobbs. The kid could pitch and hit as if he were born to do nothing else. But his career is topped abruptly after an encounter with the wrong kind of woman. Expect some strange and dark humor in Malamud's first book, originally published in 1952.