A Different Season

by David Klass

High school baseball star Jim Roark is delighted to meet Jennifer Douglas, the second basewoman on the girls' softball team, until she becomes the first female player on his all-male team.

199 pages, Hardcover

First published January 21, 1988

About the author

David Klass is the author of many young adult novels, including You Don’t Know Me, Dark Angel, and Firestorm (The Caretaker Trilogy). He is also a Hollywood screenwriter, having written more than twenty-five action screenplays, including Kiss the Girls, starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, Walking Tall, starring The Rock, and Desperate Measures, starring Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia. Klass grew up in a family that loved literature and theater—his parents were both college professors and writers—but he was a reluctant reader, preferring sports to books. But he started loving the adventure stories his parents would bring home from the library—particularly Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexandre Dumas. After his sister twice won a story contest in Seventeen magazine, Klass decided he would win it too, and when he was a senior in high school, he did, publishing his first story, “Ringtoss,” in the magazine. He studied at Yale University, where he won the Veech Award for Best Imaginative Writing. He taught English in Japan, and wrote his first novel, The Atami Dragons, about that experience. He now lives in New York with his wife and two children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidk...

Reviews

[Jensen4 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a awesome book. This kinda motivated me for a personal experience. I would recommend this book to anyone that's up for a great book. Its about an baseball star and how his team doesn't do so hot one year and the following year they win it all, but with some interesting obstacles. So a girl tried out for the team and no one was happy with that because she was a girl wanting to play a boy sport. Well she ends up playing and she ends up helping the team out big time winning.

[D.badamo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read A Different Season by David Klass. In my opinion, this was a very good book. It is about a senior pitcher who leads his ream to win the county finals, but ruins his chances of having a baseball career when he celebrates. This book was not only interesting, but also taught me a life lesson. In the story, the senior pitcher drinks and uses drugs with his friends when they celebrate after winning the county finals. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in sports and baseball.
There are several settings in this story, but the main one is on the baseball field. Oakdale High School has not won or even been to the county finals in years. But this year, they have a talented team and are expected to go far and have a chance at the county finals. They have a lot of depth on their team and also get a new addition. Jennifer Douglas, a softball player, joins the team and becomes backup second baseman.
In A Different Season, the main character is Jim Roark. He is a senior, the star pitcher, and people call him Streak. People call him Streak because he has an 85-m.p.h. fastball and just about nobody can catch up to it. He also likes a junior in their school, Jennifer Douglas. Another important character is Jim’s dad, Jim. In this story, his name is Jim Roark, Sr. Throughout the story, Jim Roark, Sr. helps coach his son. He pitched in the majors for the New York Yankees, but had to quit due to a career-ending injury.
A third important character in the story is Jennifer Douglas. Jennifer is a junior and does track and softball. Oakdale’s softball program is pathetic so Jennifer wants to play on the baseball team. There is a big controversy about whether she should be allowed to play on the team or not, but she ends up being able to. She becomes the second string second baseman and Streak begins to like her.
So, I recommend this book. A Different Season was fun to read. It was interesting and always made me want to read more. If I had to rate it, I would give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. This book teaches a life lesson about alcohol and drugs as well.

[Weikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book. I am a baseball player so that was a relationship I had with the book. Jim and jenny are playing on the same baseball team. There is some discustion cause of a girl ball player. Jim is attracted to jenny so he can't say anything about his opinion. There was always an interesting scene about to happen. I would request this book for anyone to read.

[Brock Chronister · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book A Different Season streak was hitting on a girl and she also wanted to plat second bace for the baseball team. If she got the spot streak was afraid the boy quit the and move on. In this setting streak is trying to mack every one happy around him. Every one around is just ether quitting or just not caring any more.