Welcome to Moundville, where it’s been raining for longer than Roy McGuire has been alive. Most people say the town is cursed—right in ...
read full description
reviews
Mar 04, 2009
Laura
rated it: 
Like a lot of kids who have a strat-o-matic game hidden under the bed, Roy McGuire likes to analyze things with statistics. They offer a tidy way to explain away some of life’s little anomalies. Take the case of Walt Dropo, who had twelve hits in twelve plate appearances in 1952. That’s a major league record. You never, ever expect a batter to have twelve hits in twelve consecutive plate appearances. But as Roy explains it,
The odds of that are like one in two million, but there’More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jun 08, 2008
DiabolicalMom
rated it: 
I had the pleasure of reading an early draft of Mudville, and am thrilled that it is about to be released. Scaletta is a talented new author, and Mudville is one of those rare first novels that feels like it is written by a seasoned pro, someone that knows the genre and his audience extremely well, and can both entertain and teach them without talking down to them. I would recommend this tale of baseball and brothers to fans of Chabon or Hiaasen or Spinelli, young sports aficionados, or anyone
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 18, 2008
Erin
rated it:
Loved it! Great characters, great baseball moments, a touch of whimsy, and a fabulous ending. HOLES meets THE NATURAL--only better!
Comes out in April 2009. Don't miss this one!
Comes out in April 2009. Don't miss this one!
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 27, 2009
Brandy
rated it:
It's a rare book that makes me want to play baseball. This book really captures everything about the game--the author (hi Kurtis) clearly loves the game, and it infuses every bit of every character. The rivalries, the importance of the game to this sodden town, the cultural and personal heritages caught up with baseball... every page of this book is a mash note to the sport, and I mean that in a good way.
It's not all baseball, though--there's a family story here, brotherhood and pa More...
It's not all baseball, though--there's a family story here, brotherhood and pa More...
Mar 01, 2009
Kassie
rated it:
I read the book in a handful of hours and really liked it. Besides being about baseball and brothers, there are themes on race, alcoholism, and absent parents. The main characters have real world flaws and troubles, which I really liked. Kurtis does a good job giving the characters depth and their troubles relevant and real.
Nov 23, 2008
R.j.
rated it:
I loved this book.
This is amazing because the plot revolves around baseball, and what I know about the game you could write down on one side of a single sheet of paper using large print and have plenty of room left over -- and frankly, I don't care about baseball as a rule either. So if I'd seen this book in the store, I would have skimmed right past it without giving it a second thought, dismissing it as One of Those Books for Boys Who Love Sports.
I would have been wrong More...
This is amazing because the plot revolves around baseball, and what I know about the game you could write down on one side of a single sheet of paper using large print and have plenty of room left over -- and frankly, I don't care about baseball as a rule either. So if I'd seen this book in the store, I would have skimmed right past it without giving it a second thought, dismissing it as One of Those Books for Boys Who Love Sports.
I would have been wrong More...
Dec 05, 2008
I love books where all sorts of little elements are set in place, and then they all come together and everything fits and you just sit back and admire it. For me, Mudville was one of those books. It's got a town where it never stops raining, curses, a dad who can't cook, old rivalries, and lots and lots of baseball. And it all melds together into an engaging and surprisingly (for me) exciting story. I say surprisingly because I personally am not the world's biggest baseball fan. But because of
More...
Mar 01, 2009
Penny
rated it:
This is a delightful story with extremely likable characters. You don't have to be a baseball fan or even really know much about the game to appreciate the story. The people and the relationships between them seem very real.
In the interest of full disclosure I should say that the author is a friend so my review may not be completely objective, but I did genuinely enjoy this book. While it was my friendship with the author that initially led me to pick up a book about boys playing bas More...
In the interest of full disclosure I should say that the author is a friend so my review may not be completely objective, but I did genuinely enjoy this book. While it was my friendship with the author that initially led me to pick up a book about boys playing bas More...
Jan 29, 2012
I didn't read it all, but I'm finished. I don't feel it's fair for me to rate it. The writing is highly competent, though the storytelling didn't work for me. I bought it on the recommendation that it was an excellent book even if you don't know anything about baseball or dislike the sport, as I do. Well, it seems to me that liking baseball, at least a little, is a requirement. Halfway through the book, the mystery and magical realism stopped being engaging as baseball-ness took over. I struggle
More...
Oct 07, 2011
Melissa
rated it: 
My problem with this book was that it was told in first person, and some of the descriptions did not seem like they came from a twelve-year-old. Some of the language was too poetic. Also, at one part the narrator tries to imagine a 1980s museum, which would've contained Wham! records, Cabbage Patch dolls, Reagan memorabilia, etc. Well, how would a 12-year-old in modern times even know what would be in a 1980s museum, unless he happened to acknowledge watching a TV special about the 1980s or some
More...
Jul 29, 2011
Lisa
rated it: 
It's been raining in Moundville everyday nonstop for the past twenty-two years ever since the annual Moundville/Sinister Bend Fourth of July baseball game was called for rain. Sinister Bend had never lost the game to Moundville in a hundred years. But that day, the game was stopped on account of rain, postponing Sinister Bend's victory, a game that has yet to be rescheduled until a mysterious break in the weather spurs a new generation of players to take the field. Moundville residents who hav
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 06, 2010
H
rated it:
I thought I'd read every baseball book that was out there for young readers until I found this little gem on my shelves. The story is set in Moundville, where it has rained continuously for 22 years - ever since the day when it looked like the Moundville team just might beat the Sinister Bend team for the first time ever in 100 years of play. Narrator Roy's father was the hero for Moundville in that long ago game, and has since built a business creating elaborate rain protection systems. Roy a
More...
Sep 05, 2009
Raina
rated it:
Roy is a catcher. He idolizes Johnny Bench, the catcher who "changed the image of catchers from dumb guys who didn't know better to smart guys who handle pitchers and manage the defense" (162). He's a natural leader who plans to play ball in high school.
But he can't play in his own hometown.
See, it's been raining in Moundville for over 20 years.
Nobody knows why, although some have theories about a Native American curse, but it's been raining all that time. It More...
But he can't play in his own hometown.
See, it's been raining in Moundville for over 20 years.
Nobody knows why, although some have theories about a Native American curse, but it's been raining all that time. It More...
Nov 29, 2009
Sandra
rated it:
Scaletta Roy McGuire is like a lot of twelve year old boys, he loves baseball. Unlike a lot of twelve year olds he has to go to a neighboring town if he wants to play. It has rained every day in Moundville for twenty-two years straight. Some people think the town has a curse on it. Roy believes it all boils down to statistics. Roy goes away to baseball camp and when he returns he finds a foster kid living in his house. It had always been just he and his father. His mother was always jet
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 24, 2008
Angela
rated it:
I love this book so much I've read it about a dozen times. Then again, it's not like I could say no when my darling husband asks me to read another draft.
Of course I can't really write an objective review of my hubby's book, but I can honestly say I love it and think everyone else will love it too.
Of course I can't really write an objective review of my hubby's book, but I can honestly say I love it and think everyone else will love it too.
Sep 24, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
MUDVILLE is INCREDIBLE. Seriously. I don't even like baseball, but I was SO in the groove of these games...it was INCREDIBLE. Kurtis Scaletta's characters are so authentic...you can't help but adore them. I predict this book is going to be HUGE.
Oct 20, 2010
Shannon
rated it:
Back in the day, Sinister Bend was just a trading post run by Native Americans, pioneers settled nearby creating Moundville. Settlers taught the locals how to play baseball and when the natives starting beating the them, a rivalry was born. Moundville always lost but 22 years ago it came to a halt when in the middle of the game it started to rain. Its been raining ever since. Chapter One of the book starts - To understand baseball, you have to understand percentages. For anyone not into baseball
More...
Nov 15, 2009
Emily
rated it:
Roy is a baseball fan. A serious one. And like most serious baseball fans, he likes statistics. That's why he'll tell you that the fact that it's been raining in his hometown of Moundville every day for the past 22 years is merely a matter of statistics. Baseball used to be important in Moundville, and every year there was a game against nearby rival town Sinister Bend. Because of the rain, though, most kids in Moundville don’t play baseball anymore. I was expecting this book to tie in with th
More...
Aug 07, 2011
Nancy
rated it:
Really different! Imagine being a kid, loving baseball, and living in a town where it has rained continuously for 22 years. There is only mud everywhere and people are covered in rain gear so there aren't outdoor festivities. It's just Roy and his dad. His mom, a flight attendant, is never around. He receives a postcard from the baseball stadium wherever his mom may be and a phone call occasionally. Roy is not so pleasantly surprised when he returns home from baseball camp to discover his dad ha
More...
Jul 23, 2011
Angie
rated it:
I am not a sports person so a book about baseball has to be pretty good to hold my attention. Mudville turned out to be more than just a book about baseball. Sure baseball was featured throughout the book, but the main story was really about the relationships between the characters...and between the towns of Moundville and Sinister Bend. We really get a good look at the characters of Roy and Sturgis and Roy's dad in this book and how they interact with each other. They all have their faults and
More...
Jun 09, 2011
Josiah
rated it:
In a unique new twist on one of the more famous poems about our national pastime, Kurtis Scaletta makes us think outside of the box in more ways than one as he builds his interesting narrative.
Mudville centers around a heated baseball rivalry between two nearby towns, Mudville and Sinister Bend. It's a rivalry that has gone on from nearly as far back as the birth of baseball in the middle of the 1800s, with a new rivalry game being played every year between the kids who live in the More...
Mudville centers around a heated baseball rivalry between two nearby towns, Mudville and Sinister Bend. It's a rivalry that has gone on from nearly as far back as the birth of baseball in the middle of the 1800s, with a new rivalry game being played every year between the kids who live in the More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 08, 2009
Kathryn
rated it:
Life is full of defining moments, and baseball is no exception. From Walt Dropo’s 15-hit run, to the immortal plays of Tinker to Evers to Chance to learning how to eat a hotdog (mustard and NO KETCHUP!), Mudville breathes new life into baseball legends and tells a great story along the way.
It’s all about the percentages. There’s a one in a billion chance that it will rain 8,030 consecutive days in a little town in the Dakotas, but with more than a billion towns that have existed on t More...
It’s all about the percentages. There’s a one in a billion chance that it will rain 8,030 consecutive days in a little town in the Dakotas, but with more than a billion towns that have existed on t More...
Jun 20, 2011
Angela
rated it:
SECOND READ: 6/15/11
Loved it even more the second time around! It was fun to talk about at book club. We even made the chili dog pie and it was super good! But I don't think I'm brave enough to try any other of Mr. Maguire's concoctions.
FIRST READ: 2/19/09
Wow! I loved this book! The last 1/3 especially had me glued to the pages while I waited to find out how it ended. This is a great book for boys and girls alike, but oh how I wish that I had a son to share this More...
Loved it even more the second time around! It was fun to talk about at book club. We even made the chili dog pie and it was super good! But I don't think I'm brave enough to try any other of Mr. Maguire's concoctions.
FIRST READ: 2/19/09
Wow! I loved this book! The last 1/3 especially had me glued to the pages while I waited to find out how it ended. This is a great book for boys and girls alike, but oh how I wish that I had a son to share this More...
Apr 27, 2010
Terrie
rated it:
A baseball book with some interesting elements. The Mudville baseball game against their arch rivals, Sinister Bend, was called due to rain 22 years ago. It is still raining. When 12 year old Roy returns from baseball camp, there is a strange foster brother, Sturgis, at his house. And then the rain stops.
This book has it all- a little mystery and a lot of baseball, great characters and some humor as well. I loved the ending! Only 3 stars because I think the baseball talk tends to get a li More...
This book has it all- a little mystery and a lot of baseball, great characters and some humor as well. I loved the ending! Only 3 stars because I think the baseball talk tends to get a li More...
Jul 11, 2010
Eden
rated it:
I thoroughly enjoyed Mudville. The characters drew me in, the background story kept popping up with a little clue here and a little clue there, so that the pieces were not all together until the very end. I’d like a sequel.
*Summary/Booktalk: Mudville. For 20 long years the rain has fallen on Moundville, causing the neighboring townies to call it Mudville. The rain started with a baseball game and it was a the dream of baseball that …. Well, you’ll just have to read this if you do More...
*Summary/Booktalk: Mudville. For 20 long years the rain has fallen on Moundville, causing the neighboring townies to call it Mudville. The rain started with a baseball game and it was a the dream of baseball that …. Well, you’ll just have to read this if you do More...
Aug 31, 2010
Erica
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Mar 14, 2009
Joan
rated it:
Like a baseball game, it had moments of intense interest and I was right there with the story, but then long moments when nothing much is going on and I lose interest. The back story of the Indian curse treats Indians as nothing more than a gimmick to solve a plot problem, and draws on the stereotype of the relationship between Indians and nature. He did make the effort to make his team multiculturally diverse, and with girls on it, too.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 16, 2011
Connie
rated it:
A 2011-2012 Mark Twain nominee, Mudville will appeal to baseball fans, but not me. Moundville was losing to Sinister Bend in the top of the fourth inning when the rains came. Twenty-two years later it is still raining and the unfinished game haunts the town. Roy McGuire and his mysterious foster "brother" have a chance to change the town's fortunes when the sky turns blue and the ball field is re-planted.
Jul 12, 2011
Susan
rated it: 
A 2011-12 Mark Twain Award Nominee in Missouri, I would recommend you leave this book alone. The setting is the town of Moundville where it has been raining for 22 years until a foster kid named Sturgis unexplainably enters the McGuire household. Filled with baseball lingo, the characters come across as flat and unrealistic. It took me forever to finish this book because it was so easy to put down.
