Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
51st out of 144 books
—
394 voters
Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (Shakespeare Bats Cleanup #1)
by
Ron Koertge
"This funny and poignant novel celebrates the power of writing to help young people make sense of their lives and unlock and confront their problems." - SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review)
When MVP Kevin Boland gets the news that he has mono and won't be seeing a baseball field for a while, he suddenly finds himself scrawling a poem down the middle of a page in his jour...more
When MVP Kevin Boland gets the news that he has mono and won't be seeing a baseball field for a while, he suddenly finds himself scrawling a poem down the middle of a page in his jour...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
February 14th 2006
by Candlewick Press
(first published March 1st 2003)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
46th out of 98 books
—
74 voters
More lists with this book...
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
841)
this book was funny and weird. i never knew that you can write a novel including poetry in it. it seems so hard. along the way i enjoyed reading it because it was cool how he was talking about his ex girlfriends and what he did with them.
Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge is an amazing and quick read. A fourteen year old boy named Kevin Boland is a great baseball player who is very passionate about the sport. He would hit baseballs all day long. Unfortunately, Kevin gets very sick and has Mono which is a very bad virus. He is sidelined from baseball, and forced to spend weeks in his bed. Very bored, his dad decides to give him a journal. He starts to write poetry in his journal. He learns many types of poems like haikus and...more
Short book, only 116 pages. Since the cover mentioned poetry I assumed it was going to written in something like free verse and I would be able to skim through it over lunch. Instead I wound up reading it closely and learned a few things about poetry from it.
Kevin is 14 and lives with his dad; his mother died of cancer several years earlier and to a certain extent they're still bumbling along without her. Kevin lives for baseball and lurching through clumsy relationships with girls.
Suddenly he...more
Kevin is 14 and lives with his dad; his mother died of cancer several years earlier and to a certain extent they're still bumbling along without her. Kevin lives for baseball and lurching through clumsy relationships with girls.
Suddenly he...more
Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is an unexpected little gem of a book. Written through the pen of its narrator, fourteen-year-old Kevin Boland, it is the surprising journey of a boy discovering new passions, talents and perspectives on his road to becoming the man he will eventually become.
Kevin is stranded at home with mono. His father, a writer himself, gives him a notebook to use as a journal of sorts while he is stuck in bed. Swiping a book about poetry structures and philosophies from his father’s...more
Kevin is stranded at home with mono. His father, a writer himself, gives him a notebook to use as a journal of sorts while he is stuck in bed. Swiping a book about poetry structures and philosophies from his father’s...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Enjoyed this read as the author described different forms of poetry a"nd the boy writes them about his friends, family and baseball which he loves. Some examples:
How Do You Do, Haiku
"Still, haiku look easy. Sort of, Five
syllables in the first line, seven
in the second, five in the third."
Just Not a Very Good
Pantoum for Mom
"You know what kept me from leaking
all over the page? Sticking to the rules
about what rhymes with what and how
two lines from one stanza turn into
two lines in the next."
Plain Wo...more
How Do You Do, Haiku
"Still, haiku look easy. Sort of, Five
syllables in the first line, seven
in the second, five in the third."
Just Not a Very Good
Pantoum for Mom
"You know what kept me from leaking
all over the page? Sticking to the rules
about what rhymes with what and how
two lines from one stanza turn into
two lines in the next."
Plain Wo...more
“It feels weird smuggling something about poetry up to my room like it’s the new Penthouse. / But I don’t want Dad to know what I’m doing yet. Even though I’m not doing anything. Not really. / I’m just going to fool around a little, see what’s what poetry-wise.” - from “Inquiring Minds Want to Know,” by Kevin Boland
Up until now, Kevin Boland’s life has been pretty simple, fairly straight-forward. He goes to school, plays baseball. He’s even kissed a couple of girls. Except now, he can’t. He can’...more
I like it as it is from the perspective of a teenage boy. Creative. Unusual
I was not necessarily looking forward to reading this book--not dreading it, but not super excited either. But I was very pleasantly surprised. The book does a great job on all fronts: it displays multiple forms of poetry, showing that poetry, a dying art, is neither boring nor daunting, and it manages to portray the struggles of a fourteen year old baseball player with mono, whose mother has recently died, who is battling for his place on the team and in the eyes of girls, without getting overl...more
Grade 6-9-Like his earlier The Brimstone Journals (Candlewick, 2001), Koertge writes this novel in highly accessible free verse. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Boland is an MVP first baseman whose whole life revolves around baseball. Diagnosed with mono, he is forced to stay at home for months while he recuperates. Bored, Kevin borrows his father's book of poetry and starts writing his own. At first, he just has fun imitating haiku and sonnets, but he soon begins writing insightful verse, both funny an...more
POETRY CATEGORY
To be honest, I wasn't really expecting to like this book very much. But I actually did! I thought it was rather ingenious how the author had Kevin (a 14-year-old boy who begins to write poetry after becoming bedridden from getting mono) take us all through his process of coming to love poetry. He first starts writing after he became sick and received a marbled black and white notebook from his dad to pass the time. He realizes that the things he is jotting down run down the middl...more
To be honest, I wasn't really expecting to like this book very much. But I actually did! I thought it was rather ingenious how the author had Kevin (a 14-year-old boy who begins to write poetry after becoming bedridden from getting mono) take us all through his process of coming to love poetry. He first starts writing after he became sick and received a marbled black and white notebook from his dad to pass the time. He realizes that the things he is jotting down run down the middl...more
Interest level: 7th +
Reading level: medium, short
Genre: realistic fiction, poetry, baseball, sports, mono, mononucleosis, humor, jocks, writing, mothers, fathers, death, trial by fire
Read-alikes: Love that Dog, Stop Pretending, After the Death of Anna Gonzales, Locomotion
When Kevin gets sick - mono to be precise - he has to stay home for a long time to recuperate. Being physically unable to play baseball - his favorite sport - he turns to writing. Discovering a book of poetry in his father's lib...more
Reading level: medium, short
Genre: realistic fiction, poetry, baseball, sports, mono, mononucleosis, humor, jocks, writing, mothers, fathers, death, trial by fire
Read-alikes: Love that Dog, Stop Pretending, After the Death of Anna Gonzales, Locomotion
When Kevin gets sick - mono to be precise - he has to stay home for a long time to recuperate. Being physically unable to play baseball - his favorite sport - he turns to writing. Discovering a book of poetry in his father's lib...more
Apr 22, 2010
Bethany Miller
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
ms-miller-s-book-list,
summer-reads-for-teens
Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is a novel in poems told from the point of view of Kevin, a fourteen-year-old boy, who is confined to his bed because he is sick with mono. Kevin is a baseball player, but he can't play because he is so ill, which makes the confinement even more difficult. In his boredom, he begins writing poetry that explores how he feels about many different aspects of his life including his mother's death. He attempts to write in a variety of poetic formats, and though some of the poe...more
What a great book! Fourteen year old Kyle Boland has mono, so his dad picks him up a spiral to write in since he will have so much time at home. Kyle tries his hand at poetry and decides he likes it, so he sneaks around borrowing books from his dad's library to learn more about poetry forms. In these first efforts we find out a lot about what it is to be a fourteen year old guy who likes three things: baseball, some girls, and poetry. Kyle attempts every form of poetry he reads about, and in the...more
POETRY CATEGORY
Shakespeare Bats cleanup is the story of how one boy discovers the power of poetry. Kevin Boland is a baseball player who is virtually bed ridden for awhile because he has mono. He has nothing else to do, so he decides to give a go at poetry. He begins to like poetry because it allows him to explore his thoughts. He is a little worried about what other might think if they found out that a jock likes writing poetry. Kevin ends up meeting a girl who encourages his poetry, and he dec...more
Shakespeare Bats cleanup is the story of how one boy discovers the power of poetry. Kevin Boland is a baseball player who is virtually bed ridden for awhile because he has mono. He has nothing else to do, so he decides to give a go at poetry. He begins to like poetry because it allows him to explore his thoughts. He is a little worried about what other might think if they found out that a jock likes writing poetry. Kevin ends up meeting a girl who encourages his poetry, and he dec...more
Kevin Boland, our protagonist, has eyes for one thing: baseball. However, when a case of mono strikes this fourteen year old first-basemen, Kevin is forced to find entertainment in something other than the America's favorite pastime. In a fit of boredom, he wanders into his father's library where he is begins a very secretive flirtation with poetry. The next 116 pages document both Kevin's own attempts at poetry, and an often funny, sometimes heart-felt, look at Kevin's life.
This is a character...more
This is a character...more
view all 3 comments
Instead of playing on his beloved baseball team and meeting new girls, 14-year-old Kevin is confined at home for several weeks with mono (or "monouglyosis" as he calls it). His Dad (a writer by profession) wisely encourages Kevin to keep a journal while he is sick. Kevin discovers the joys and challenges of writing poetry - then tries to keep his new found talent a secret from his baseball teammates, believing (at first) that being a poet is "kind of girly." This short, enjoyable book is written...more
About the Books: 14-year-old Kevin is stuck at home with Mono, which means he's not allowed to play any baseball. To pass the time, he starts to write. First he writes so it looks like poetry, then he begins to take an interest in poetry and explores different types of poems. He writes about his mom's death, baseball, and life in middle school. He also meets Mira, a new girl in school that makes him not want to hide the fact that he's a writer.
In Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs, Kevin is back. H...more
In Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs, Kevin is back. H...more
Aug 05, 2011
Ted
added it
A cool little book for fans of baseball and poetry. I know, small audience. The South Pasadena Library had a writing workshop with Mr. Koertge, and having loved the teen novel Stoner and Spaz, I braved unseasonably gloomy weather to attend. He was charmingingly droll; not surprising to find out he's a friend of poet laureate Billy Collins.
I bought Shakespeare Bats... and tore the cover off the ball - em, book. The protagonist tosses poem after poem as he rehabs on IR until he gets back into the...more
I bought Shakespeare Bats... and tore the cover off the ball - em, book. The protagonist tosses poem after poem as he rehabs on IR until he gets back into the...more
When MVP Kevin Boland gets the news that he has mono and won't be seeing a baseball field for a while, he suddenly finds himself scrawling a poem down the middle of a page in his journal. To get some help, he cops a poetry book from his dad's den - and before Kevin knows it, he's writing in verse about stuff like, Will his jock friends give up on him? What's the deal with girlfriends? Surprisingly enough, after his health improves, he keeps on writing, about the smart-talking Latina girl who thi...more
This book was great. The whole book is written as a story but it is written in poems. I liked this book because the main character, Kevin, explains the poem type right after he writes it. I would recommend this book to anyone who is new to poetry because it is a good introduction to poetry. The story was about a boy who had mono. He couldn't go to school or play baseball, so he passed the time by writing poetry.
Prompt:
"Months to live, then weeks, then days," is a powerful phrase. It means that K...more
Prompt:
"Months to live, then weeks, then days," is a powerful phrase. It means that K...more
This wouldn't be my first choice as a verse novel to teach in class, but for the middle school or 9th grade teacher who is looking for a boy to share with a few boys, I highly recommend. The poetic language isn't as wonderful as other novels in verse, though, to be fair, it is supposed to be from a 9th grader's perspective, and maybe the author just did a really good job of getting into a not-so-very experienced writer's head?
My one gripe is the flirtation that goes on with the main character a...more
My one gripe is the flirtation that goes on with the main character a...more
POETRY
What an awesome idea for a book! Story of a mono-stricken teen who discovers a passion for writing. He's drawn to discovering new types of poetry and even goes on to select his favorite types. It's a fun book, especially for a YA audience because the main character's voice is so authentic. His worries are real and mirror those faced by teens. His poems are also fun in that they are instructive, yet creative enough that they include events and concerns in his, a teen's, life. My own liking...more
What an awesome idea for a book! Story of a mono-stricken teen who discovers a passion for writing. He's drawn to discovering new types of poetry and even goes on to select his favorite types. It's a fun book, especially for a YA audience because the main character's voice is so authentic. His worries are real and mirror those faced by teens. His poems are also fun in that they are instructive, yet creative enough that they include events and concerns in his, a teen's, life. My own liking...more
Kevin Boland loves baseball, but when he gets mono, he is confined to bed and isolated from the team. To pass the time, he sneaks a poetry anthology from his father’s office and begins writing about his life and experiences. He experiments with different forms and comments on how those forms affect meaning. As he writes, he explores his feelings about past girlfriends, baseball, and his mother’s death. Kevin discovers that he enjoys reading and writing poetry as much as he enjoys baseball. Addit...more
I read this during ELA testing this morning and it's just a terrific verse novel for middle school. For students in grades 7 and 8, this novel introduces major forms of poetry, including the sonnet, haiku and ballad, all while being told from the perspective of an 8th grade boy who is stuck at home with mono. He would rather be playing baseball or pursuing a girlfriend, and the poetry that results is funny and moving. The recent death of his mother also offers insight into other forms, such as t...more
I love, love, love this book. Middle school baseball player Kevin has mono. His dad gives him a notebook so he can write while he is basically bed-ridden. Kevin sneaks a book on poetry out of his dad's study and starts experimenting with poems, especially different forms. Many times, he writes in a format, then the next "poem" explains the form and Kevin writing it. Poetry becomes a way for him to "talk" about his mom's death. This was a re-read for me, in preparation for the sequel. I had not e...more
I just ate this book up. It made me laugh so hard at parts and really just captured my interest right off the bat and continued to keep me interested. Novels in verse are starting to grow in children's literature and I am so happy that it keeps growing. Also, this is one of the rare books in verse that teaches you a bit about poetry. Kevin finds a book about different types of poetry and starts to use them in his journal and he lets you know what he's experimenting with when he is.
Definitely a b...more
Definitely a b...more
I finally read Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, which is the first companion novel (and first book) to Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs. Luckily since these books are in verse, going backwards worked out. The first book was just as enjoyable as the second, and I'm so glad I got to pick it up.
Here we meet Kevin in the throes of mono. Since he can't play baseball, his dad gives him a journal to use while he's stuck in bed. At first he doesn't write much, but one day he scribbles a poem down. After swiping...more
Here we meet Kevin in the throes of mono. Since he can't play baseball, his dad gives him a journal to use while he's stuck in bed. At first he doesn't write much, but one day he scribbles a poem down. After swiping...more
REVIEW: Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (It's like a better sequel to Love That Dog than Hate That Cat was! Yay sports + poetry!)
Koertge, R. (2003). Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
116 pages.
Appetizer: 14-year-old Kevin Boland wants nothing more than to play baseball. But after he is diagnosed with mono, there's no way he'll be able to play ball or go back to school for a looooooooong time. Stuck in his room and bored, Kevin is anything but excited when his dad (a writer) give...more
Koertge, R. (2003). Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
116 pages.
Appetizer: 14-year-old Kevin Boland wants nothing more than to play baseball. But after he is diagnosed with mono, there's no way he'll be able to play ball or go back to school for a looooooooong time. Stuck in his room and bored, Kevin is anything but excited when his dad (a writer) give...more
This novel written as poetry was a treat to read!
From the back cover:
At fourteen, Kevin Boland is a straight-talking MVP first baseman who can't tell a ballad from a salad. but when he is diagnosed with mono and is forced to spend months at home recuperating, Kevin secretly borrows his father's poetry book and starts writing, just to pass the time. Inside the book, Kevin discovers more than haiku and sonnets. he gains insight--sometimes humorous, sometimes painful--as he records his candid obse...more
From the back cover:
At fourteen, Kevin Boland is a straight-talking MVP first baseman who can't tell a ballad from a salad. but when he is diagnosed with mono and is forced to spend months at home recuperating, Kevin secretly borrows his father's poetry book and starts writing, just to pass the time. Inside the book, Kevin discovers more than haiku and sonnets. he gains insight--sometimes humorous, sometimes painful--as he records his candid obse...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs. Gallagher's ...: Jennifer Burke Review | 1 | 5 | May 01, 2013 05:55pm | |
| Mrs. Gallagher's ...: shakespeare + baseball = a good book | 1 | 3 | Apr 30, 2013 05:17pm |
Ask Ron Koertge what he brings to the realm of young adult fiction, and the seasoned author responds matter-of-factly. "I write dialogue well, and I'm funny," he says--an assessment few would argue with. "I like iconoclasm and practice it in my fiction. I don't like pretense or hypocrisy. I'm almost always irreverent."
A faculty member for more than 35 years at Pasadena City College, where he has...more
More about Ron Koertge...
A faculty member for more than 35 years at Pasadena City College, where he has...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
