I shared at the beginning of the month that I was planning on joining in on the monthly challenge at Middle Grade Carousel this month. The topic for April was rivals. I read Much Ado about Baseball by Rajani LaRocca.

My Review:

Trish and Ben are math competition rivals who end up on the same baseball team. Told from alternating viewpoints, it’s clear that these two rivals have so much in common they should be friends. This book covers so many different interests that it would appeal to a lot of different kids. The main characters love math puzzles and baseball. Plus, there’s Shakespeare references and a touch of magic. I am always looking for books that have diverse characters where the plot is not about racism or prejudices. Trish and Ben are from Indian American families, and the cultural aspect is just naturally woven into the plot. The main conflict is about winning their baseball championship. I would recommend this more for middle grade readers who are high readers because of all the problem solving elements to the plot.

May’s theme for Middle Grade Caroousel is reptiles. My main reason for joining the challenges is to read the middle grade books I already own, and I don’t have anything with a “traditional” reptile, so I am going to go with dragons and read Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede.

If you want more recommendations or to learn about the challenge you can get more information at Middle Grade Carousel