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Never Blame the Umpire, by Gene Fehler

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today’s Wild Card author is:

and the book:

Never Blame the Umpire

Zonderkidz (March 1, 2010)

***Special thanks to Bridgette Brooks and Pam Mettler of Zondervan Publishing for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Gene Fehler, an award-winning and widely published poet, is the author of ten published books and over eighteen hundred published poems, stories, and articles. He and his wife, Polly, live in Seneca, South Carolina, where he writes, teaches, and participates in sports.

Visit the author’s website.

Product Details:

List Price: $12.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz (March 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310719410
ISBN-13: 978-0310719410
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER: Just Press the Button:

My Thoughts: Never Blame the Umpire, by Gene Fehler, is an excellent read.  The story and the characters feel authentic.  Fehler took a difficult subject and handled it very well, doing an incredible job of relating the story from the view point of eleven year-old, Kate.  Through Kate’s eyes and thoughts we experience her reactions to her mother’s illness as well as the reactions of her mother, brother, father, and various other members of the community.  The book never preaches, but it does reveal the comfort one can find in a loving Christian community and faith in God.

Never Blame the Umpire, would make an excellent read-aloud, discussion book for family reading time.  As a teacher I would love to be able to read it in a classroom setting, but it would never be allowed in a secular school. This is also a story a teen could easily identify with.  Younger children might need some guidance as they read because the thought of losing a parent can be terrifying.

9 Comments

  2. Tom and Quilly LOL
    Tell Thom I was up until 2am waiting for tsunami photos so pfffft.

    The book sounds good, but jeez, the fellow has written over 1800 articles, poems, and stories? I’m feeling like such a slacker. I’d love to read this — I have a MG novel on submission now in which the hero’s mother is ill with cancer. It’s not easy to write about.

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