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Little League #3
State Showdown
It's an all star showdown...
The journey to the Little League Baseball® World Series continues! The Forest Park All-Star teammates are moving on to Sectionals competition. Carter Jones leads the charge with a devastating pitch that leaves batters blinking in confusion. Forest Park looks unstoppable--until a long-held grudge threatens to break apart the team and end its postseason journey.
Catcher Liam McGrath, Carter's cousin, knows all about grudges. But if he's going to succeed on his California All-Star team, he has to put them aside and work together with a rival-turned-teammate.
Do they have what it takes to make it to the Little League Baseball® World Series?
© 2013 Little League Baseball, Incorporated.
The journey to the Little League Baseball® World Series continues! The Forest Park All-Star teammates are moving on to Sectionals competition. Carter Jones leads the charge with a devastating pitch that leaves batters blinking in confusion. Forest Park looks unstoppable--until a long-held grudge threatens to break apart the team and end its postseason journey.
Catcher Liam McGrath, Carter's cousin, knows all about grudges. But if he's going to succeed on his California All-Star team, he has to put them aside and work together with a rival-turned-teammate.
Do they have what it takes to make it to the Little League Baseball® World Series?
© 2013 Little League Baseball, Incorporated.
- GenresSports
208 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2013
22 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
467 books142 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
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March 17, 2015Two 11 year old cousins, Carter Jones and Liam McGrath must deal with a grudge that threatens to hurt their All Star team. Carter is the pitcher. Liam is the catcher. When the Forest Park team moves on to sectionals the whole team has to work together in order to win. Carter has to take the game into his own hands. This changes carter a lot because he figures out that he his the heart and soul of the team. He has to lead this team to victory.
Cater Jones is a baseball pitcher. He is 11 years old. He is a very determined guy. He is a good leader for his baseball team.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I would recommend it to younger kids. If you like sports, especially baseball, you will like this book. This book shows how you use teamwork to accomplish your goals. I liked this book because it was an easy read. I didn't like this book because it was really short.
Cater Jones is a baseball pitcher. He is 11 years old. He is a very determined guy. He is a good leader for his baseball team.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I would recommend it to younger kids. If you like sports, especially baseball, you will like this book. This book shows how you use teamwork to accomplish your goals. I liked this book because it was an easy read. I didn't like this book because it was really short.
November 4, 2014
Good book
love the series #mattchristopher needs to make more of these awesome books. I recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball.
love the series #mattchristopher needs to make more of these awesome books. I recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball.
May 20, 2020
This is a review for the whole five-book series, since it is a single story and the individual books do not necessarily offer a sense of conclusion. They need to be read in order:
1) Little League: Play Ball!
2) District Doubleheader
3) State Showdown
4) Perfect Game
5) Baseball World Series
I was quite pleased with this one. I thought it's easily my favorite of the several Matt Christopher stories I have read, and then I realized it's not actually written by Matt Christopher, since he died 16 years before this book was published. Apparently, Matt Christopher has become a franchise, and other writers are publishing under his name. These books are actually written by Stephanie True Peters.
Anyway, this is exactly what I ask of sport books for boys. It's easy to read for young readers, even reluctant ones, it has plenty of baseball action for those who love sports, and the baseball play is balanced with interesting drama for the characters. The series is about two cousins who have lived next to each other all their lives. They are like brothers and best friends, they love baseball and are good playing together. Their team makes it to the final of the American side of the Little League World series, where they meet a very strong opponent who had humiliated one of our heroes in the past and behaves in an arrogant manner.
Later, one of the cousins has to move away with his family, and they move to the same city where that former rival lives. The cousins miss each other a lot, and even though they keep in contact, they have to cope with the difficult experience of moving on and making new friends. I thought the whole thing was handled well, depicting realistically the difficulties of making new friends when you feel guilty for "replacing" your best friend, as if you are betraying him.
Both Carter and Liam are likable kids and I was rooting for them. I was always looking forward to reading more and finding out what happens next. As the boys' teams progressed in their respective little leagues, there was the possibility that if both of them made it to the world series again, they might end up having to play against each other.
1) Little League: Play Ball!
2) District Doubleheader
3) State Showdown
4) Perfect Game
5) Baseball World Series
I was quite pleased with this one. I thought it's easily my favorite of the several Matt Christopher stories I have read, and then I realized it's not actually written by Matt Christopher, since he died 16 years before this book was published. Apparently, Matt Christopher has become a franchise, and other writers are publishing under his name. These books are actually written by Stephanie True Peters.
Anyway, this is exactly what I ask of sport books for boys. It's easy to read for young readers, even reluctant ones, it has plenty of baseball action for those who love sports, and the baseball play is balanced with interesting drama for the characters. The series is about two cousins who have lived next to each other all their lives. They are like brothers and best friends, they love baseball and are good playing together. Their team makes it to the final of the American side of the Little League World series, where they meet a very strong opponent who had humiliated one of our heroes in the past and behaves in an arrogant manner.
Later, one of the cousins has to move away with his family, and they move to the same city where that former rival lives. The cousins miss each other a lot, and even though they keep in contact, they have to cope with the difficult experience of moving on and making new friends. I thought the whole thing was handled well, depicting realistically the difficulties of making new friends when you feel guilty for "replacing" your best friend, as if you are betraying him.
Both Carter and Liam are likable kids and I was rooting for them. I was always looking forward to reading more and finding out what happens next. As the boys' teams progressed in their respective little leagues, there was the possibility that if both of them made it to the world series again, they might end up having to play against each other.
March 3, 2017
State Showdown by Matt Christopher, was a great book. This book was about a kid named Carter and his cousin named Liam. Also it was about their baseball state tournament that they were both in, but on different teams. I really liked this book.
In my opinion this book was really good and my favorite part was when Carter through a no-hitter. Although it was good, it was kind of confusing at times when they would switch characters between the two Carter, and Liam. But, in general it was good.
I would recommend this book to many people. For anyone who likes baseball, mystery, suspense, action, and again baseball you will like this book. I would definitely read this book and if you do I am pretty you sure you will like it and if not love it.
In my opinion this book was really good and my favorite part was when Carter through a no-hitter. Although it was good, it was kind of confusing at times when they would switch characters between the two Carter, and Liam. But, in general it was good.
I would recommend this book to many people. For anyone who likes baseball, mystery, suspense, action, and again baseball you will like this book. I would definitely read this book and if you do I am pretty you sure you will like it and if not love it.
June 21, 2022
My sons and I are loving the Little League series. I think it captures the excitement of baseball and includes a lot of information for beginners regarding how the game is played,etc. We will definitely continue with the series!
December 11, 2018
Leaves you on a cliff hanger, although it was the worst book of the series it was still really good.
July 30, 2019
The tea is getting real 🍵
October 8, 2021
it wasn't the best book of the series.
August 12, 2025
As their progress toward the biggest stage in youth sports continues, the readers are more and more hooked, dying to find out how it ends.
February 9, 2017
March Book Review
State Showdown
Matt Christopher
This book is about two cousins who play little league baseball and are competing in their states finals. The two cousins are both boys and the main charcters of the book. One of the two cousins is Carter Jones he plays baseball for Forest Park which is in Pennsylvania. The other cousin is Liam McGrath he plays baseball in Southern California. Carter and Liam both played together in Pennsylvania until Liam moved to California. Some other characters are Ash and Philip. Ash is on Carter's team and replaced Liam's spot when Liam left the team. Liam did not really like Ash because he was always with Carter when the two cousins were video chatting. Philip was another character who played on Liam's team, but him and Liam were enemies and trying to be successful in the season. The reason why they were enemies was because a year ago in the U.S. championship game Philip struck out Liam to win the game. A major event was when both cousins made it to their states tournament. Finally, the most impactful event was when Liam left his cousin to go live in California.
In this book there were a few themes i picked up that i thought meant a lot. One was even though you have an enemy you can't let him or her mess you up in what you want to do. I thought this was important because Philip said to Liam that he is bad at baseball, but Liam did not let that get in his way of being a successful baseball player. Finally, the last theme i found was to just have fun and you will do great. This was a theme because both Carter and Liam had fun playing baseball and they both did great. These two cousins gave me life lessons that i should understand from reading this book.
State Showdown
Matt Christopher
This book is about two cousins who play little league baseball and are competing in their states finals. The two cousins are both boys and the main charcters of the book. One of the two cousins is Carter Jones he plays baseball for Forest Park which is in Pennsylvania. The other cousin is Liam McGrath he plays baseball in Southern California. Carter and Liam both played together in Pennsylvania until Liam moved to California. Some other characters are Ash and Philip. Ash is on Carter's team and replaced Liam's spot when Liam left the team. Liam did not really like Ash because he was always with Carter when the two cousins were video chatting. Philip was another character who played on Liam's team, but him and Liam were enemies and trying to be successful in the season. The reason why they were enemies was because a year ago in the U.S. championship game Philip struck out Liam to win the game. A major event was when both cousins made it to their states tournament. Finally, the most impactful event was when Liam left his cousin to go live in California.
In this book there were a few themes i picked up that i thought meant a lot. One was even though you have an enemy you can't let him or her mess you up in what you want to do. I thought this was important because Philip said to Liam that he is bad at baseball, but Liam did not let that get in his way of being a successful baseball player. Finally, the last theme i found was to just have fun and you will do great. This was a theme because both Carter and Liam had fun playing baseball and they both did great. These two cousins gave me life lessons that i should understand from reading this book.
December 30, 2016
Title: Little League State Showdown
Genre: A fictional sports story
Author: Matt Christopher
Synopsis:
A situation occurs in the final game causing a feud between Liam McGrath and Phillip DiMaggio which carries over to the next year. The following year Liam McGrath moves from Pennsylvania to California and as fate would have it both players were selected for the same All-Star team competing for the Little League World Series.
As each game is played many different situations develop escalating the feud between Liam and Phillip which jeopardizes their main objective…. to win the Little League World Series.
One of the problems that Liam encounters is having to catch Phillip DiMaggio in the games.
Liam is my favorite character because after all the pressures he encounters throughout the story he still manages to stay focused by playing each game hard and helping his team stay on course for the Little League World Series.
I can relate to Liam because I am also a catcher for my baseball team.
My favorite part in the book is when during a game Matt made an error allowing a run to score. Matt blamed himself but Phillip said that no one person wins or loses games. Phillip took part of the blame on himself by walking the batter that scored.
I would change the ending of the book by extending it a little longer and sharing with the readers the final score of the game.
I think the reader is trying to tell me to always work hard and strive for your dreams.
I would recommend this book because I think it gives a lesson that the pressures of competing does not always have a negative lasting effect.
A passage in this book which I thought was powerful was when the players stood behind each team's District Championship banner and they all said the Little League pledge together. They pledged to play fairly and try their best. Liam caught Phillip’s eyes and offered him a smile and Phillip nodded once. This was a gesture which made you wonder what would happen next.
Genre: A fictional sports story
Author: Matt Christopher
Synopsis:
A situation occurs in the final game causing a feud between Liam McGrath and Phillip DiMaggio which carries over to the next year. The following year Liam McGrath moves from Pennsylvania to California and as fate would have it both players were selected for the same All-Star team competing for the Little League World Series.
As each game is played many different situations develop escalating the feud between Liam and Phillip which jeopardizes their main objective…. to win the Little League World Series.
One of the problems that Liam encounters is having to catch Phillip DiMaggio in the games.
Liam is my favorite character because after all the pressures he encounters throughout the story he still manages to stay focused by playing each game hard and helping his team stay on course for the Little League World Series.
I can relate to Liam because I am also a catcher for my baseball team.
My favorite part in the book is when during a game Matt made an error allowing a run to score. Matt blamed himself but Phillip said that no one person wins or loses games. Phillip took part of the blame on himself by walking the batter that scored.
I would change the ending of the book by extending it a little longer and sharing with the readers the final score of the game.
I think the reader is trying to tell me to always work hard and strive for your dreams.
I would recommend this book because I think it gives a lesson that the pressures of competing does not always have a negative lasting effect.
A passage in this book which I thought was powerful was when the players stood behind each team's District Championship banner and they all said the Little League pledge together. They pledged to play fairly and try their best. Liam caught Phillip’s eyes and offered him a smile and Phillip nodded once. This was a gesture which made you wonder what would happen next.
March 10, 2015
There was lots of baseball games and action. Some time passed in the book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews