Choice Book Report

 

                In the book, Stumptown Kid, the main character is Charlie Nebraska. Charlie is an 11 soon to be 12 year old boy who loves the good, old American game of baseball. He lost his father at war, and misses him too much to except the fact that his father passed away. When the Army sent his father back, his mom never opened the casket, so he believed his father wasn't dead. Every day he would think his dad was going to walk through the front door and everything in Charlie's life would go back to normal.

          Charlie is the kind of kid that would do anything just to help his friend. In the story, he risked his life to help his friend, Luther Peale. Luther is an African-American who taught Charlie how to pitch a baseball better and make the ball go in the strike zone. Luther knew about baseball very well because he was a professional baseball player. He was a pitcher on the Memphis Mockingbirds, a Negro League, and one day he was playing a white team called the Nashville Lions. Sam Brody, a player from the Lions, came up to bat drunk. His head was hanging right in the strike zone, so when Luther threw the pitch he hit him right in the head and killed him. Well, Sam's brother, Ruckus Brody, said he was going to kill Luther the next chance he got even though it wasn't his fault. That's why Luther ran away from Tennessee, where he grew up. Ruckus found out where he went to and came straight to Stumptown, Iowa to find Luther and kill him. So when Ruckus found Luther, he had a switchblade and was about to hit Luther when he was lying on the ground, after he fell. But Charlie found an egg crate; he hit Ruckus over the head without even thinking. He fell straight to the floor. That's how Charlie helped Luther when it was needed. It just shows that Charlie doesn't think before he acts sometimes, but it came in handy on a desperate need. Charlie was friends with him till he had to leave town. He was there for Luther when he was homeless and needed food. He bugged his mom, one night, into bringing Luther spaghetti for supper. Charlie didn't care if he was an African-American even though most of his town was against African-Americans. It just shows that Charlie only cares about what's in the inside of a person.

          In baseball, all Charlie wanted to be was the best. He wanted to practice as hard as he could to get better. When Luther gave him pointers, he concentrated on them hard. He was a dedicated player to the sport.

          Charlie was very respectful to his mom. When she needed help with anything she asked for, he would be right there helping her. He thought he had to be the “man” of the house after his dad passed away. His mom got a boyfriend, who he hated with a passion, and Charlie could tell that he wasn’t the “right” person his mom needed. His mom’s boyfriend was always a jerk to Luther. Charlie has the confidents to say to his mom’s boyfriend that he didn’t like him.

              
  Stumptown Kid was a book I really liked. The reason why I liked it was because it was about baseball and I’m a big baseball fan. It wasn't a book about facts of a professional baseball team. It was mostly about people playing games of baseball. An example is Charlie didn't get put on the Wildcats baseball team, so Luther taught him how to throw a baseball better like a fastball. Well one day, when Charlie and his friends were playing some baseball, Luther gave Charlie and his friends some pointers on how to hit the ball better and how to throw the ball better. So if you are looking for a book that knows some things about baseball, this is the book for you. 

              The book was also always going meaning there wasn’t a part where it got slow or boring. Like when Ruckus Brody, a guy who was about to kill Luther, came to Stumptown there was a lot of action and suspense. Ruckus Brody is a man from Tennessee that had his mind set to kill Luther. Ruckus came all the way up to Stumptown, Iowa and found him. Well, that day when he found Luther, he had a switchblade and could’ve killed him, but Charlie was there in time to knock him over by hitting Ruckus over the head with an egg crate. When the cops came, they locked Ruckus in jail thinking he wouldn’t be out for a very long time. They were wrong.

 I would recommend this book. It was a book where you couldn’t put it down. For example, at the end I stayed up late just to finish the book. The reason for this was Ruckus Brody got out of jail. Vern, Charlie’s mom’s boyfriend, broke in and got him out of jail because he didn’t like Luther at all. So since Ruckus was out of jail, he went on a search for Luther and found him coaching baseball for Charlie’s team. He created Charlie as bait to get Luther to come over by him. That’s all I can mention write now. Read the book to find out the rest.

It’s an excellent book to read. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes action and baseball. These two combinations make a stupendous book to read. Someone reading my blog should read this book.  This book is a fast reading book because you won’t put it down unless you absolutely have to. Anybody that is big in baseball or likes reading an action and suspense book should read it.