Never Blame The Umpire

by Gene Fehler

Kate is having the best summer a sports-loving eleven-year-old could possibly have. Baseball. Tennis. And to top it off, Kate has just started a three-week class where shes discovering a new love; poetry. Then comes the news that tears Kates world apart. In her close-knit family, Kate has always felt Gods love and protection. But how can she trust God now? Do sports or poetry matter when tragedy strikes? In Kates darkest hour, her mothers faith shines its brightest, helping Kate to see that life is still beautiful and God is still good. Always, no matter what.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Christian Fiction, Contemporary, Middle Grade, Christian, Death

168 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2010

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE this book!!!! It touched my heart and I will never forget it. The struggle the main Character Kate faces is something most people have experienced, and the lesson that goes with the story is one I will forever remember. I know that no matter what happen in life...we should never blame the Umpire.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great message, and I liked the poetry included throughout, but overall the story felt flat and predictable.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christian Middle Grade
Pre-mourning her mom dying of cancer
Excellent book

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. From the first page, Kate took me right into the story and I could relate to so many things that were going on when I was a kid.


Kate is at the start of one of the best summers of her life until her parents bring her the news that her mother has cancer and it is inoperable. The rest of the book follows Kate and her family through the summer and how they deal with the coming death of a beloved family member.


I have never been a big fan of poetry but I thoroughly enjoyed the poetry that Kate wrote in this book. I see poetry now as a wonderful expression of feelings. Mr. Fehler does an amazing job writing a young teenage girl though don't let that shy boys away from reading this book either. Kate is athletic and plays sports and her gender figures in less in this story than her place as a child in a family dealing with upcoming death. I think this book can help either gender deal well with this topic as Kate is in that zone of being a young adult before boys and girls separate fully to chase each other for dating and liking. So her problems and the way she deals with them can help both boys and girls.


This is a beautiful book and the full focus is not on the death - but on the life they live and the valuable lessons that can be taught on how to trust God even when tragedies happen.


It was funny but I could relate on both sides of Kate and her Mom. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was in college and I remember the day I came home to both parents at home (both worked at the time) and how I knew something was wrong. I could also relate as a mom because I thought I was given a death sentence last spring when they didn't know what was wrong with me. I immediately wanted to do everything with my kids that I could. My story thankfully ends better than Kate's mom (they found out it was something entirely different and much more treatable than spinal cancer).


There are beautiful lessons to be learned in this and a great way for children to understand and cope with death of a loved one. I loved Kate's mom's ultimate lesson in this book and how true it really is if you think about it.


A beautiful book from start to finish - I think this can appeal to all ages but is focused on young adults. I enjoyed reading it and will hang on to this one to share with others.


Mr. Fehler writes an amazing story and got me to like poetry, that says a lot

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate has the perfect life and the perfect family. She has two great supportive parents and a wonderful little brother. She loves sports and is looking forward to spending her summer playing baseball and tennis and writing poetry in her creative writing class. The biggest problem Kate thinks she has in life is her disappointment when her parents fail to attend her opening season baseball game where she gets the game winning hit. That is until she finds out her mother is dying. The news rocks Kate’s faith in God to its core and leaves her wondering if God even cares.

This book is both heartbreaking and enlightening. The phases of grief that Kate goes through are realistic. She gets angry, she gets sad, she withdraws, and she tries to protect her mother. She can’t imagine a life living without her mother, she prays for a miracle, and she blames God when she sees that she isn’t going to get one.

The style of the book is interesting. The sentences are short which is good for young readers, but they are almost poetical in nature. In essence much of the book feels like one long poem which is interesting because Kate is writing poems and the text includes many of those she writes. In some ways Kate’s poems feel less poetical than the rest of the narrative.

This is a book that will make you laugh and cry. It accurately portrays a preteen dealing with grief and death. I would recommend this to anyone looking for books on grief, death, or faith. The author has done a remarkable job convincing the reader of Kate’s pain and sense of loss.

Cautions for sensitive readers: Be prepared to have a hanky handy. This one is a tear jerker. There are no other cautions for this book. It does not contain any foul language, sexuality, or violence.

Book received for free from Goodreads First Reads.

[Janna Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Young Adult book that deals with a heavy subject in a wonderful way, but that doesn't make it any easier to read. In this book, Katie is set to have a great summer. She is on the baseball team with her brother and her mom and dad are coming to their games. It opens at a game where she makes the winning play, except her mom and dad aren't there to see it. When she gets home something seems seriously wrong, but she figures she must be mistaken. Eventually Mom and Dad take Katie and Ken to the beach for the day to break the bad news... Mom is really sick.

Death and dying are not easy subjects, especially for a 12 year old girl with her whole life in front of her. How will Katie handle this summer with her mom, will she push God away or allow Him to come closer. This was not an easy book to read, but it was so good.

(Sarah's review)
My 13 year old daughter Sarah read it and she thinks it was really good (and sad) and she read it in 1 day! But it was hard for her not to tell me about it. She thinks it is something for all young girls to remember that God is always with you and will be there for us when bad stuff happens. Life goes on that way. But hey never blame the umpire (and God!) You see the umpire is like God, of course the umpire will mess up even though God doesn't. But the umpire is in control of the game. So let's say your team lost, of course you will get mad but you knew it was a fair game.

[Gina (My Precious Blog) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another kindle freebie I downloaded thinking even though its a kid's book, I might actually enjoy it ~ wrong. I'm not a very religious person. Remarkably, I do tolerate most Christian Fiction as long as the author doesn't shove it down my throat.

This story is written for age 9-12. Its about Kate, the main character and narrator, a 12 year old girl having the best summer of her life until tragedy unexpectedly strikes her perfect family. The rug is pulled right out from underneath her, when she discovers her young mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. How will she ever come to terms with this revelation?

Though the plot and storyline interested me, this book suffered from too much GOD Talk for me to truly enjoy it. In addition, even though the narrator was only twelve years old her voice was that of someone much younger. The word choice the author used was simple, flat and matter of fact. The story itself lacked tangible details. The language was far too simple, told as if an adult was speaking to a child. Sorry, I really wanted to like this one, but it was a total disappointment to me. The best part about the book was it was FREE.

Sorry, don't waste your time.

[Lenore Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

My latest venture into the Y.A. life was learning the lessons of real life. Here I was again a kid. Remember the struggles of learning the rules of life. Yes, we tend to forget that it was hard to always fit in, know the way and be accepted. "Never Blame the Umpire" was junior high again. And not in the bad way! But where we stretched our bodies to the limits in sports while reaching with our minds for new ways to communicate. So much like Kate I tried to learn how to fit into the rules of life. But too be an original. Kate (our young adult) is a great athlete, accepted into that role. When she journeys into creative writing and letting her poetry come out life shifts. It is here in her life as a tween she discovers her strength. Helping her through one of the hardest lessons life has to give to anyone of any age.

[Annalisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted more depth from this book. I know it's middle grade, but I've read depth in middle grade. I wanted to feel for Kate, ride this story along with her, with all her heartache and doubt, but it felt more like the story was told to me. Like it was a story in a Sunday School lesson to answer the question "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" and the teacher says, "Let me tell you a story about a girl named Kate who had that same question."

Added 4/4: my daughter just finished this book. She's the one I got it for and she liked it, read it rather quickly. She didn't seem too emotional about the story, which I would have hoped considering the subject matter, but she got the message out of it.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recieved this book from the First Reads program. The book is aimed at a younger audience... as a former fifth grade teacher I'd say about age 11 would be a good younger end of the range for this book, both for reading level and content.
As books for the age group go, I'd say the writing style is about average. I didn't dislike the book, but didn't find anything spectacular in it, either. The characters were fine but didn't really draw me in or make me deeply identify with them, the storyline was fine but didn't have anything unique or surprising about it. Overall, it was just an average book, fine for a kid to read, good messages about God, nice to have a female character who is into both sports and poetry, but not one I would say was a particularly memorable read.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received this book because I won it on Goodreads, and am I thankful. This is a good read.

The story concerns an eleven year old girl and her family of a father, mother and younger brother. Things are going well, at least ok for her and then she faces a tragedy in her family. They are a religious family and a sports family, as well.

The rest of the book concerns how she first is mad at God and then how through her sports and her poetry and her family life and friends, she finally comes to the realization that you can "Never blame the Umpire."

A joyful read for youth.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for work, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. I wouldn't have missed much.

Gene Fehler's depiction of the main character, Kate's, voice, is far too simplistic for the heavy issues this book struggles to address -- the death of Kate's mother and Kate's journey to understand it and God. It really felt like an old man pretending to be a little girl . . . which is exactly the case. The religious message, while not *too* heavy handed, was still too pat and "agenda'd" -- not about questions, but about answers. Using a parent's death as a tool for telling kids they should trust in God is a pretty underhanded technique, as far as I'm concerned.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan. For one, I'm vastly older than the target demographic for this book. For two, books where people find God tend to be too preachy for my tastes. This one started out very light on the preaching, but by the end, it was too much for me. Perhaps this is a flaw in my personality, but that doesn't make me any more comfortable with "God is great!" this and "Jesus loves you!" that. Thus, into the sale box we go.

I received a free copy through FirstReads in exchange for an honest review.

[Vika · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is written for an age group of 9-12 i think, i really liked how innocent and PG this book was :) And it had a good message about God, how you can cope with a tragedy through poetry and prayer.
Overall this was an OK book, a quick read.
I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

[Linda Fausnet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a good book for children who have lost a parent of have friends who have lost a mother or father. The book is well written and provided some interesting talking points for children concerning grief. However, it should be noted that this book is Christian Fiction. I didn't know this when I picked it up at the library. I guess I feel that it should be labeled as such.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads. Gene Fehler follows the story of an 11 year old girl struggling with her mother's cancer diagnosis. The story is somewhat "preachy," but might work for a very young Christian reader dealing with heavy subject matter.

[Melissa Frye · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my thoughts on this book, visit Book Review: Never Blame the Umpire by Gene Fehler | Incurable Disease of Writing.

[Christy Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Transparent but sweet.

[Lei Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

REALLY GOOD SO FAR THOUGH I CAN KINDA TELL WHATS COMING NEXT

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Decent story line, but just an okay book.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good story, but to God oriented. The whole story somwhat revolved aroundgod and Jesus.

[Nancye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sad story but a great lesson. They use the an analogy comparing umpires to God. Easy read but sad too.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kindle freebie, a little bit too cheesy for my taste.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

YA book. Cancer. Death. Well-written but sad.

[Ally Feldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soooo amazing but I cried soooo much.