What do you think?
Rate this book
Little League #5
Baseball World Series
It's the biggest game of their lives--and only one can win Liam and Carter's teams are on the verge of winning the greatest championship of the Little League Baseball World Series. Cousins and best friends who grew up playing baseball together, Liam and Carter must now play against each other to achieve their dreams of winning the Series title! One cousin will win, and the other will lose.
- GenresSports
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
39 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
426 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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 4, 2019
This whole series is amazing! I read this book with my 7year old baseball obsessed son. There is enough tension in the books to make it exciting, there are great explanations of how the game works, from rules to technical verbiage. Liam and Carter are very relatable characters as are the rest of their team mates. Great books for sports lovers and boys and girls alike! I can't wait to read more of Matt Christophers books with my son.
June 20, 2025
The concluding book in this series. Liam and Carter have finally made it to the U.S. Championships and have to face off against each other in an intense game of baseball. Who will win? (I know, but I won't tell you.)
Great storyline. I believe that the real author, Stephanie True Peters, deserves some recognition, so thank you to her. These are great books for young kids. Only problem? I know nearly nothing about baseball!
Great storyline. I believe that the real author, Stephanie True Peters, deserves some recognition, so thank you to her. These are great books for young kids. Only problem? I know nearly nothing about baseball!
August 19, 2022
My boys and I are definitely sad to see this series come to an end. I had no idea that it wasn't technically written by Matt Christopher, but a ghost writer instead?! Not that it matters, but that's interesting nonetheless. You can definitely tell the difference from a stylistic standpoint if you have read Christopher's novels from the 80s, etc.
June 8, 2021
I think a LOT of kids would like it it is a great 5 book series and I loved it because it’s was like it was actually happening in front of you
August 12, 2025
Great finish a great series. I recommend all of Matt Christophers work, but this series the most.
August 20, 2015
From the last 2 months over the summer I read a really amazing book called Little League Baseball World Series written by Matt Christopher. This book is a nonfiction book that takes place in California and mostly on different kinds of baseball fields. Some of the main charters are Liam and Carter McGrath. This book is about one kid that gets bullied and goes through rough times. But he over comes getting bullied an begins to make friends over time. I gave this book 5 stars because I love books about sports.
March 1, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. It focuses on sportsmanship and friendship above all things and and it is a really action packed book that has many unexpected twists and turns. It is the finale of an awesome journey that Liam Mcgrath and his cousin Carter Jones have been on since they first came to the Little League World Series.
August 9, 2019
WHOLESOME. Will be routing for Carter and Liam for life. Good series. Great for kids. Fun to listen to. YEET. Also great character development. I love all the friendships that formed too. Wow. Such fun! Would especially be fun to read when its winter and there's no baseball. It'd partly fill that void. Highly reccomend <3
September 16, 2014
Really good
a excellent book
I loved everything in it
recommended to anyone who enjoys sports or baseball.
I love this book and I'm sure you will too definitely worth spending your money on!
Written by Christian Chris
a excellent book
I loved everything in it
recommended to anyone who enjoys sports or baseball.
I love this book and I'm sure you will too definitely worth spending your money on!
Written by Christian Chris
September 5, 2014
All tied up with a nice little ribbon...a little too convenient.
July 13, 2015
Well, my kids absolutely love this series, so what can I say. We are on a very long road trip and neither of them wanted to get ou of the car while listening to this book.
June 27, 2018
I read this series out loud to my son over a period of time, and we both enjoyed it a lot. It was one of those series you wish didn't have to end.
June 21, 2018
Best book ever😀😀😀😇😍😇😇😇😇😛🤩🤩🤩🤩😎😜🤪😝😛😕🙁☹️😶😐😑🙄😦😧🤛🏻😮😲🤤
December 10, 2018
Really good book, but you need to read the series in order.
July 19, 2022
Wholesome even if it was about baseba
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews