Keeping Score

Author: Linda Sue Park
Rating:
Reading Level: 5th to 7th grade

Pages: 202
Publisher: Clarion
Edition: Hardcover, 2008
Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park

rating: 4 of 5 stars
It does not take much for me to cry over characters and events in books. However, often I feel manipulated and eventually resentful because the author did something to “make” me cry for the wrong reasons. Not this one. My tears (they came toward the end in several places) were well worth the shedding. I got to really admire Maggie and completely believed in all her feelings: the indignation of how her prayers and sacrifices did not work out the way she had hoped for; the anger fits; the holding on to the hope; her compassion… Thank goodness that she is not perfect! But, so admirable and a character that readers might feel being able to emulate. I enjoyed reading the whole art of baseball score keeping and how Park weaves the baseball stories with the Korean War stories and the personal growth stories all into one neatly wrapped package. The fervor for the game is definitely palpable and contagious.

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