8-Bit Baseball

by Brandon Terrell, Eduardo Ferrara (Illustrator)

Jared Richards is undefeated in baseball games--video games, anyway. But when he loses a bet to his best friend, Jared is forced to get off the couch and step onto the field for his school's baseball team tryouts. Despite the fact that he's never even held a baseball before, Jared ends up being pretty impressive as a pitcher--until the line between video games and reality begins to blur. Can Jared sort out the glitch in his brain before he blows the big game?

Genres: Sports

72 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2014

About the author

Brandon Terrell is the author of numerous children's books, including picture books, chapter books, and graphic novels. He is also one of the writers for The Choo Choo Bob Show, an educational children's television program about trains. When not hunched over his laptop, Brandon enjoys watching movies and television, reading, baseball, and spending every spare moment with his wife and their two children.

Reviews

[Gary Anderson]

Jared is a champion at the video game “All Star Sluggers,” but he’s never played real baseball. When he loses a match and has to follow through on a dare to try out for his school baseball team, he discovers he has no fielding skills, but he does have a blazing fastball. The plot of this fast-paced graphic novel comes down to one pitch in a championship game.

8-Bit Baseball is an excellent installment in the Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novels series. Unlike many sports books for kids, it gets the details right, from the terminology to the strategy. The drawings are exciting as they vividly convey Jared’s split focus on video games and real games in ways that a text-only story could not.

The back matter includes a glossary that I don’t think is too useful, but I really like the “Visual Questions” section that asks readers to ponder why the illustrator made certain choices in specific frames.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Students will like the art. I am not sure how the story of video gamer turned star athlete will go over.

[Kate Matheis · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are two boys on a baseball team who do not get along. They get into trouble for fighting and are asked to leave the team and not return until they can work together. They reluctantly work together and through video game analogies bond and improve as baseball players and become friends.

[Jacob Cockrum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because jared pictures baseball like a video game.

[Brandy Hummel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my other graphic novel.

Text-to-self: This book grabbed my attention because of the title with “baseball.” For me, this graphic novel reminded me of when I first tried out for a select softball team. Unlike Jared, the main character, I had played softball before. It was neat to read this book and connect in the sense that we were both pitchers for our teams as well.

Text-to-text: This book reminded me of Pete the Cat: Play Ball! simply for the fact that they are both about baseball. Also, I think that it made me think of this book because both characters are not necessarily trained and skilled at baseball. Jared started playing the sport because he lost a bet and Pete wanted to show off how cool he was.

Text-to-world: The events in this story are similar to some that children might experience in real life. Children might experience trying out for a sports team for the first time like Jared did. They might also have the connection to Jared and his love for videogames as well.

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Anyone who says video games rot your brain, well...you tell 'em I know better. They're the reason I became a starter!" A graphic novel about a boy who found confidence on the baseball field because of his video game prowess. The story involves some middle school bullying and some ups and downs on the ballfield.
This is a simple story; a quick read. Nothing flashy but it's a nice book about baseball and struggling through the middle school years.

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book since I love sports and just this story.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this graphic novel. It had a good plot, and will interest sports lovers.

[Frank DeGidio]

the book was good because it started out as him not liking baseball and then he really liked it at the end