What happens when your entire world changes on the first day of school? Rip and Red, two fifth graders, are about to find out in another Virginia Readers' Choice, A Whole New Ballgame. (Affiliate links provided to fund future book purchases.)
Book Summary
Rip and Red have been friends forever at Reese Jones Elementary School. They are ready for their final year in fifth grade and couldn't be more excited. This year they will be able to join in some basketball fun and Ms. Hamburger. But everything changes when they walk into Room 208. They walk into the room and see not Ms. Hamburger but a male teacher who looks nothing like a teacher ~ Mr. Acevedo. He is easy-going and doesn't seem to worry about anything at all. Reading time includes choice time and learning will be fun.
In their fifth grade year, the kids at RJE get to spend some time learning basketball and getting ready to move up with the older kids. And again things change on the students as they enter the gym to find Mr. Acevedo as the coach. The students will have to try out for the team and then play real games against other teams, something that has never happened before.
It's a year of extreme change for everyone, but Rip and Red must work together to help each other as they endure other people and projects. But most of all, they must understand that it's really a "whole new ballgame".
Reasons to Read
This book is full of reasons to read. Here are three:
1. Red, Blake Daniels, is autistic. The story allows children to see how one student, Rip, can help an autistic student. I love that the story helps the reader better understand something that seems so hard to understand.
2. It will help students learn to deal with difficult situations. All of the students at RJE have so many things that have changed, and Mr. Acevedo helps them through it all. Even when Rip has to work with a student he can't get along with, everything works out for the best. Students can learn how to deal with problems that they can't change.
3. The book is full of context clues! I love how the author incorporates them throughout the book. Readers can learn new words and how to use context clues, especially those that are obvious.
A Whole New Ballgame (affiliate link) is a fun book that teaches an important life lesson. Students {and adults} can gain so much understanding from this book.
Tune in next week as I highlight another Virginia Readers' Choice.
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