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Double Play at Short
Twelve-year-old Danny thinks that there is something very familiar about the girl who plays shortstop on the team he faces during the championship series, and his curiosity leads him to a surprising discovery about his own adoption.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
16 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
438 books141 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 3, 2014
*Spoiler Alert*
Do you really like baseball well this is the kind of book for you. the genre of my book is fiction.
First of all my story takes place on a baseball field. It's important because that's were the story mainly takes place. The conflict in my book is Danny the best player on his baseball team wanted to find out who was the mysterious shortstop on the jaguars team but he couldn't because he was distracted on the way she plays. So Danny sends the mysterious girl the best player on her team a letter. So then Danny found out that the mysterious girl was his twin sister. Then after the championship they walked home happily. The type of conflict in my book is person vs person because Danny is going against another person who plays exactly like him.
My opinion on the book is that its an interesting book. The main character in my book is Danny. In the story its says that Danny is the best player on his baseball team. I liked the way the author describes Danny because it really shows that he truly is an excellent baseball player. Some things the author says about Danny is that he is always ready because in the text it says Danny always on alert. His muscles were poised and ready to respond to any ball that came in his direction.
My other opinion on the book is that its cool because its talking about baseball. The main characters problem is that there is a player on the Jaguars team that plays exactly like him. The most interesting thing in this book is that the mysterious girl is actually Danny's twin sister. I couldn't understand why they both got separated when they were born.
In conclusions i would rate this book four stars because its a really interesting book but its not the best book i read. I would recommend this book to a person who really likes baseball because this book talks a lot about baseball.
Do you really like baseball well this is the kind of book for you. the genre of my book is fiction.
First of all my story takes place on a baseball field. It's important because that's were the story mainly takes place. The conflict in my book is Danny the best player on his baseball team wanted to find out who was the mysterious shortstop on the jaguars team but he couldn't because he was distracted on the way she plays. So Danny sends the mysterious girl the best player on her team a letter. So then Danny found out that the mysterious girl was his twin sister. Then after the championship they walked home happily. The type of conflict in my book is person vs person because Danny is going against another person who plays exactly like him.
My opinion on the book is that its an interesting book. The main character in my book is Danny. In the story its says that Danny is the best player on his baseball team. I liked the way the author describes Danny because it really shows that he truly is an excellent baseball player. Some things the author says about Danny is that he is always ready because in the text it says Danny always on alert. His muscles were poised and ready to respond to any ball that came in his direction.
My other opinion on the book is that its cool because its talking about baseball. The main characters problem is that there is a player on the Jaguars team that plays exactly like him. The most interesting thing in this book is that the mysterious girl is actually Danny's twin sister. I couldn't understand why they both got separated when they were born.
In conclusions i would rate this book four stars because its a really interesting book but its not the best book i read. I would recommend this book to a person who really likes baseball because this book talks a lot about baseball.
July 8, 2023
Title IX tale of glory.
September 25, 2010
Title: Double Play At Short
Author: Matt Christopher
Genre: Young Adult
Challenges: 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, Read and Review Challenge 2010, Read Your Own Books 2010, TBR Challenge 2010, Reading From My Shelves Project 2010, 100 + Reading Challenge, Young Adult Reading Challenge, YA Through the Decades, Pages Read 2010, A to Z challenge,
Rating: 3/5
No. of Pages: 139
Published: 1995
Back Cover: Danny Walker is on eof the best players the team has; in fact, his adoptive parents and sister consider him a shoo-in for the shortstop position on the All-Star team. But that was before Tammy Aiken, the opposition’s new “Hot Dog” shortstop, showed up. Danny has a sinking feeling the newcomer is as good as he is – feeling her stats back up. And yet something besides her threatening to steal the All-Star spot from him is bothering him.. The more he watches her, the more he becomes convince that he’s seen her – or someone just like her – play before. Why does Tammy seem so familiar?
Mine: I try to read some of the same books as my nephews. The older one loves Matt Christopher and I love baseball. This is a great way great way to also discuss adoption, when do you tell someone that their were adopted.. Danny seems to have always known. Having a brother who was adopted as a baby, it’s nice to see how Danny belongs in the family.
Author: Matt Christopher
Genre: Young Adult
Challenges: 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, Read and Review Challenge 2010, Read Your Own Books 2010, TBR Challenge 2010, Reading From My Shelves Project 2010, 100 + Reading Challenge, Young Adult Reading Challenge, YA Through the Decades, Pages Read 2010, A to Z challenge,
Rating: 3/5
No. of Pages: 139
Published: 1995
Back Cover: Danny Walker is on eof the best players the team has; in fact, his adoptive parents and sister consider him a shoo-in for the shortstop position on the All-Star team. But that was before Tammy Aiken, the opposition’s new “Hot Dog” shortstop, showed up. Danny has a sinking feeling the newcomer is as good as he is – feeling her stats back up. And yet something besides her threatening to steal the All-Star spot from him is bothering him.. The more he watches her, the more he becomes convince that he’s seen her – or someone just like her – play before. Why does Tammy seem so familiar?
Mine: I try to read some of the same books as my nephews. The older one loves Matt Christopher and I love baseball. This is a great way great way to also discuss adoption, when do you tell someone that their were adopted.. Danny seems to have always known. Having a brother who was adopted as a baby, it’s nice to see how Danny belongs in the family.
September 21, 2015
Double Play at Short by Matt Christopher tells a story about a boy that loves the game of baseball and the challenges he faces. He is great at shortstop, an amazing batter, and he is a shoe-in for the all star team until one day when a girl named Tammy moves into his neighborhood. She plays just like he does. Same batting stance, same field position, and throws with her right hand and bats left handed just like him. She is just as good as Danny and she looks like him too. He begins to get suspicious of their similarities when he finds out that she is adopted and has the same birthday as well.
Overall, I did not think that this book was the best. While the plot was interesting and it talked about baseball, the book didn't have enough action, especially in the first part of the book. Even though it flowed really well, the author took to long to tell the story between the exciting parts. I could tell that the book was written a long time ago because it talked about video stores and cameras having film. The best way to describe this book would be pedestrian.
If I had to recommend this book to someone, I would recommend it to the people who like Matt Christopher's other books.
Overall, I did not think that this book was the best. While the plot was interesting and it talked about baseball, the book didn't have enough action, especially in the first part of the book. Even though it flowed really well, the author took to long to tell the story between the exciting parts. I could tell that the book was written a long time ago because it talked about video stores and cameras having film. The best way to describe this book would be pedestrian.
If I had to recommend this book to someone, I would recommend it to the people who like Matt Christopher's other books.
February 27, 2013
I'm having a hard time deciding how to rate this. I'm looking for books for a friend for their young son who is not a big fan of reading but loves sports. I checked this one out. A good story but sometimes the long description, inning by inning of baseball games gets in the way of the narrative. On the other hand I suspect those descriptions will be exactly what draws in the young man in question who is sports obsessed, especially baseball.
Underneath the baseball is a sad story just barely explored, but enough for the age group. One could make a great YA book out of this story-line I would think if you advanced the age of the protagonists a few years.
Underneath the baseball is a sad story just barely explored, but enough for the age group. One could make a great YA book out of this story-line I would think if you advanced the age of the protagonists a few years.
October 29, 2014
The book Double Play at Short was an interesting book I would have never guessed what happened in the end. It was about a guy and a girl name Danny and Tammy. They are twins but they have no clue! They meet up in the championship baseball game for little league. That's where Danny thinks that Tammy is kind of like him. Tammy finally finds out that they are twins after Danny tells her. Danny finds out from his step mother and he accidentally told Tammy and she was upset but in the end they both learn to love each other even though they were competing against each other! And Tammy's team won the championship in game 5!
November 20, 2015
This book was about Danny Walker who is a great player trying to get on the All-Star team which is a amazing possibility. Intel a girl named Tanny Aikens who is a great player also and could take the all-star team. So Danny does some research and found out that she is adopted just like him. He ended up finding out that they are twins! Also they are playing each other in the championship. Will finding out the they are twins through off their game? Read the book to find out what happens next.
I like this book because it is exciting and amazing how they found out they were twins.
This book was kind of slow for the first half of the book but then it turned around.
I like this book because it is exciting and amazing how they found out they were twins.
This book was kind of slow for the first half of the book but then it turned around.
October 29, 2014
In this baseball book, Danny is a boy bound for county all stars. While his team, the bullets make the World Series against a tough Jaguars team, Danny discovers a new girl who appears to be quite the player at shortstop. After just noticing she looks similar to him, he notices that they're batting stance is also the same. After many signs of similarity, he does some backround research and discovers his twin sister. The bullets end up losing the series, but after her not taking the news well and not appreciating her new found brother, they break out in hugs and embrace eachother.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2012
It's about the main character Danny and his twin sister. AS.
June 22, 2013
This book was very good if you like baseball and sports!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews