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Peach Street Mudders
Zero's Slider
While trying to ask Uncle Pete to coach for the Peach Street Mudders, Zero discovers that he can throw a slider when there's a big bandage on his injured thumb.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
2 people are currently reading
13 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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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November 20, 2019Zero is your typical teenage boy, interested in sports and spends his days practicing and partying. Recently, Zero has had to take on a lot of stress, his uncle losing his job and being forced to move in with Zero and his mother, and having to prove hes not a disappointment to his small town family. Unfortunately, fate keeps raining on his parade and Zero receives shocking news that without a coach, his baseball team will be forced to forfeit 3 games. Pondering over the subject, Zero turns to his unemployed uncle and together they make it the best season yet!
My opinion on this book was very confusing. Overall, it was a great book but sometimes the clarification on things wasn't spot on. I would rate this a 6/10 and i would recommend this book to someone who is interested in "quick reads" or short but simple novels. Also, people who might be interested in sports.
My opinion on this book was very confusing. Overall, it was a great book but sometimes the clarification on things wasn't spot on. I would rate this a 6/10 and i would recommend this book to someone who is interested in "quick reads" or short but simple novels. Also, people who might be interested in sports.
January 18, 2024
Prereading a bunch of literature before giving it to my child and this is one of them.
At 60 pages, complete with some illustrations and easy font for the eyes, this makes a good early chapter books for evolving readers. I have read several early chapter books at this point and I thought this one had great flow and structure to it’s writing. The voice of the writing was welcoming and pleasant. The themes in the story were appropriate for young children, to include messages of the main character warring with internal conflicts such as: “Can I do this?”, “Practice will make me better, but can I practice more?”, and my least favorite, “Will my uncle love me even if I don’t perform?” That last one was a bit annoying, and I didn’t think it was necessary nor did I read anything in the book to support that logic from the main character. The uncle was extremely present and supportive and never gave his nephew any reason to doubt his love for him. But again, I can see how some people might struggle with those thoughts, so I can get past it.
Completely appropriate for classrooms and families, as I saw nothing to worry about. Baseball themed, which makes it great for sports lovers. Overall, I thought it was a good book for exploring different topics in literature and practicing those reading skills.
1/16/2024
Reread again to write out comprehension questions to save me time in the future. I liked how Zero’s internal dialogue and emotions could make for good conversation and increase emotional intelligence of what not to do and what would be a better way of handling emotions.
At 60 pages, complete with some illustrations and easy font for the eyes, this makes a good early chapter books for evolving readers. I have read several early chapter books at this point and I thought this one had great flow and structure to it’s writing. The voice of the writing was welcoming and pleasant. The themes in the story were appropriate for young children, to include messages of the main character warring with internal conflicts such as: “Can I do this?”, “Practice will make me better, but can I practice more?”, and my least favorite, “Will my uncle love me even if I don’t perform?” That last one was a bit annoying, and I didn’t think it was necessary nor did I read anything in the book to support that logic from the main character. The uncle was extremely present and supportive and never gave his nephew any reason to doubt his love for him. But again, I can see how some people might struggle with those thoughts, so I can get past it.
Completely appropriate for classrooms and families, as I saw nothing to worry about. Baseball themed, which makes it great for sports lovers. Overall, I thought it was a good book for exploring different topics in literature and practicing those reading skills.
1/16/2024
Reread again to write out comprehension questions to save me time in the future. I liked how Zero’s internal dialogue and emotions could make for good conversation and increase emotional intelligence of what not to do and what would be a better way of handling emotions.
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September 28, 2014This is a great book especially for boys to relate to and become more interested in reading. It is about baseball, so students who enjoy sports may be even more interested in books like this and others by Matt Christopher. It is not that long of a book either, so it can really be a great book for students to get excited about reading.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews