Tim Kelly (Children's Literature)
On the surface this is a book about baseball and those who love it, but in reality, it is about so much more. The book takes place in Florida where Felix grows up to idolize the sport of baseball. What really interests him in the sport is that his dad used to be a star player when he lived in Cuba. Since Felix knows little more than this about his dad, he decides to try to learn more about him. When he runs away from home to watch a minor league game in Florida, one of the teams, comprised primarily of Cuban players, mistakes Felix for their batboy. Eagerly stepping into that role, he continues to serve as their batboy and learns more about the game of baseball, the Cuban culture and, of course, more about his father. The writing style of this well-written story allows readers to fly through the chapters. Although young male sports fans will enjoy this story immensely, they will get more than just a good sports story here since the book also deals with family relationships and cultural diversity. 2006, Dutton/Penguin, $15.99. Ages 9 to 12.

Dan Ubilla (Children's Literature)
Felix, a young Cuban boy living with his Mami in Florida, eats, breathes, and dreams baseball. His mother does not seem to take any interest in the sport, and the two typically end up at odds. Felix’s lucky day comes when he wins tickets to see the local minor league baseball team. Unfortunately, since his Mami cannot take Felix, he must go with his babysitter. After a while, Felix gets fed up with her teasing and ends up sneaking into the visiting East Naples Miracle baseball team’s locker room. He is mistaken for the bat boy and ends up following the team to work their next home game. He spends the next day making friends with the players and manager, wowing them with his own baseball skills and asking around to see if anybody has heard of his famous dad, Claudio de la Portilla, a player on the Cuban National team. After the day of his dreams ends, Felix grows closer to his mother and learns all about his father, all while trying to keep his job as ball boy. In this novel, Sue Corbett creates a first-generation Cuban family that feels truly authentic. With a working-class mother and a father who could not make the trip to America, Felix feels distant from his parents. Corbett tells a story that sounds like a child’s daydream but actually conveys the larger tale of the plight of Cuban families who hope for a better life. 2006, The Penguin Group, $15.99 and $5.99. Ages 9 to 12.

María E. Gentle (Children's Literature)
Felix Piloto, an eleven-year-old living in Florida with his mother, is a baseball fan. He does not know his father who was a baseball star in Cuba. He wants to know about him but his mother is no help. Then a chance to learn something offers itself when a baseball team with a few Cuban players comes to town. Felix wins tickets to go see them play and through a series of circumstances becomes the team’s bat boy. A funny poignant story about a boy looking for his roots the only way he knows how. 2006, Dutton, $15.99. Ages 10 to 14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 24))
Felix and his mother escaped from Cuba when he was a baby. He now lives in hope that his father, a star baseball player, will join them someday. But his mother is strangely reticent when he asks for more information about his father. Life in Florida is difficult; his mother works long hours while attending school, leaving him feeling neglected, resentful and lonely. His one solace is baseball. Circumstance, impulse and a little strategy lead to a job as a batboy for a local minor-league baseball team. He finds friends among the players and a mentor in the team's owner. He finally learns his father's real story and comes to understand and appreciate his mother's sacrifices and strength. Corbett remains carefully true to Felix's view and interpretation of events and deftly weaves a moving coming-of-age story with a sweet, satisfying conclusion. (afterword, glossary) 2006, Dutton, 144p, $15.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 12. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

n/a (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2006 (Vol. 59, No. 6))
Eleven-year-old Felix Piloto has a famous Cuban baseball-star father whom he hasn’t seen since he was a baby, but who has nonetheless instilled in him a love for baseball. Though his father was unable to escape Cuba when he and his mother fled, Felix dreams that someday they will be reunited in the U.S., his father will play for a major-league team, and they will all live happily after. When Felix wins tickets to go see the local minor-league team play, his overworked mother sends him to the game with a babysitter; he grows angry and sneaks away, poses as the opposing team’s ball boy, then ends up on the team bus heading out of town. The ensuing adventure brings realizations about his childhood and father, many new friends, and a happy ending whereby he becomes a permanent ball boy and his mother finds a new job and her dream house. This is an enjoyable baseball fairy tale with enough charm to make plausible Felix’s considerable good luck; readers will cheer him on and wish that their baseball fantasies could also come true. Many details, especially about Felix’s father (has Felix had any contact with his father? How has he avoided hearing anything about him in the press?), are left rather hazy, but these elements are not really the point. Baseball is the central focus, and there is plenty of up-close action here--from locker room chitchat to baseball lingo, to on-the-field play and looks behind the scenes of managing a ballpark--and readers will be swept up in the energy and allure of this fast-paced read. Stock this on your shelves just in time for spring training season. An author’s note is included, along with brief glossaries of baseball terms and Spanish words and phrases. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Dutton, 160p, $15.99. Grades 4-6.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2006)
Eleven-year-old Felix knows almost nothing about his father, a baseball star who stayed behind when Felix and his mother left Cuba. After Felix runs away with a minor league Florida team, his mother finally realizes his passion for the game and reveals how his father risked everything to get them to America. The fast-paced, engaging story has a satisfying ending. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2006, Dutton, 152pp, 15.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Kevin Beach (VOYA, April 2006 (Vol. 29, No. 1))
Eleven-year-old Felix Piloto lives and breathes baseball, much to the disdain of his single mother. Since fleeing Cuba with her son, she has struggled to finish college while working long hours to put food on their table, making a neglected Felix pine for his father. Naples, Florida, has a farm team for which Felix manages to obtain tickets to the season opener. Forced to attend with an obnoxious babysitter, he manages to hide in the visiting team's locker room and is soon on their bus, mistaken for a newly hired ball boy. On this unplanned flight of fancy, Felix wants to discover more about his father, a famous Cuban baseball star. The friendly team manager, with some issues of his own, takes Felix under his wing, housing and feeding him as he learns of Felix's deception. The story wraps up nicely as the manager helps Felix and his mother come closer together, and the mystery of what happened to his father in Cuba is resolved. This story is every baseball-loving kid's dream-traveling with a team, caring for the mascot, talking baseball all of the time. The story is efficiently rendered with realistic dialogue, some in Spanish. Hi-lo readers would definitely root for this likeable hero. "Free baseball" is a term used to describe extra inning games-fans at the ballpark get more for their money-creating a perfect title for a book about a boy's love of the sport. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2006, Dutton, 160p., $15.99. Ages 11 to 14.