The Hit away Kid

Peach Street Mudders

by Matt Christopher, George Ulrich (Illustrator)

Barry McGee, hit-away batter for the Peach Street Mudders, enjoys winning so much that he has a tendency to bend the rules; then the dirty tactics of the pitcher on a rival team give him a new perspective on sports ethics.

Genres: Sports, Childrens, Baseball, Fiction

60 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Matt 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.

Reviews

[Melinda Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is for boys who love baseball, because practically every word has to do with the game. A friend of Barry's stole his little brother's figurine and Barry reluctantly agreed to win it back by making two home runs. He didn't quite make his goal, however. Both boys learn a big lesson that day.

[Marcus Gulley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barry McGee, hit-away batter for the Peach Street Mudders, enjoys winning so much that he has a tendency to bend the rules; then the dirty tactics of the pitcher on a rival team give him a new perspective on sports ethics.

[Alex Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn't that bad, so I'd overall rate it a four star.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barry plays left field for the Peach Street Mudders, and is extremely competitive. He pretends to have caught a dropped ball and ignores his coach's advice to hold at third base. A rival team member, Alec, oversees Barry’s dishonest behavior and wagers that Barry will strike out twice rather than score two homeruns at their next game (betting Barry’s little brother’s toy). When Barry misses second base while running the bases, he must decide whether to tell the truth and sacrifice his run. Though Barry loses the bet, Alec gives back the toy anyway, both boys having learned their lessons. School Library Journal sums it up this way:

Matt Christopher is known for his chapter books about sports, and the Peach Mudder series is written for slightly younger readers. It follows a group of boys who play for the same local little league team. Each book includes a heavy dose of baseball action and terminology, and a message about good sportsmanship. The Hit-Away Kid deals with the importance of fair-play and the negative consequences of cheating, focusing on internal guilt, rather than external consequences from authority figures. Though it imparts a good message, it is very heavy-handed: “A person can change if he does the right thing” is one of the final sentences. School Library Journal recommends this book for, “younger readers [who] should enjoy this for the excitement of the game [and] older readers who need high-interest material with easy vocabulary and sentence structure

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hit Away Kid starts right in with baseball action. By the end of the first chapter the reader is as invested in the game as left-fielder, Barry McGee. When Barry lets the ball roll from his glove a moment after an amazing catch, our heart sinks, and continues to clutch as Barry makes the decision to cheat. The book gives a thoughtful and balanced look at dishonesty. While the younger sister's character seems dated, she has seen the dropped catch, the overall story and its message about cheating, is still very relevant. Without patronizing kids, or making honesty seem the only possible choice, The Hit Away kid thoughtfully conveys the message that while our actions define us, we have control and are capable of change.

[Michelle Ault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barry has the reputation of being the hit-away kid that never strikes out. He is a sore loser and often cheats during his baseball games. When Alec steals a toy dog from Barry’s sister and only promises it back if Barry can hit 2 homeruns, Barry is determined to get the dog back for his sister. In the end Barry doesn’t earn the dog back from Alec, because he only hit one homerun. However, Alec was surprised that he was honest to his coach about missing second base, and respected him more as a result. This leads to the conclusion of the book, which exemplifies good sportsmanship and doing the right thing, regardless of what was promised in the past.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another baseball book from Matt Christopher for my little slugger. Robbie got this one from the summer reading program so I HAD to read it to him. Unlike the other books by this author, this one seems to be written for a little younger crowd which is perfect for my son. Even though the book is meant for younger kids, it had a lot of baseball terminology that goes right over my head - my son's too probably but he doesn't seem to mind!

[Samantha Stenberg]

This book is about a kid on a baseball team who fakes that he caught a fly ball and lies about it so that his team wins the game. It teaches about his struggle to do the right thing. The kids in my field experience class are using this as the at-grade-level reading group book.

[Partridge Public]

Christopher, Matt PB

[Meleke Battle · Rating 1 out of 5]

the book was borinig lost interest in the first chapter.

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 5223 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 3.8 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP

[WSL Library]

x2

[Ms. Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a vary good book becose it had verygood discribing words suc asexclamed