Baseball in April and other stories

Baseball in April is a collection of short stories that follow Hispanic-American children living in California. The stories range from 10-12 pages, and cover varying degrees of childhood innocence. The story from which the book gets its title, follows 2 brothers, Jesse and Michael, who fail to make the Little League team but join The Hobos, a team comprised of other boys from school and gets to its games by riding in the back of coach’s pickup. Another story follows Veronica, a young girl who desperately wants a Barbie doll and one day finally gets one. 

Even though these stories are short, and at time feel rushed, they undoubtedly maintain a didactic nature. These simple stories conclude with important moral lessons. For instance, the story “Barbie,” teaches children that sometimes getting what they want has unexpected consequences and sometimes its best to be happy with what they have. The appropriately named “Two Dreamers,” suggests the importance of having a dream, even if it isn’t easily achieved. Each story tells a different message, and because each plot is easy to fellow, these messages transfer from the page to the hearts of the children reading them.

Because this book is a collection of short-stories, it would be very easy for a teacher to use it in a middle school classroom. A teacher could pick and choose which story to use, and possibly use the theme of the short story to introduce a larger novel. However, because each story reads easily, I would probably classify it more at a 6th or 7th grade level.