Eleven-year-old Kate loves baseball, tennis, and writing poetry, but struggles to find joy when tragedy strikes her close-knit family.
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reviews
Oct 01, 2010
Janna
rated it: 
A Young Adult book that deals with a heavy subject in a wonderful way, but that doesn't make it any easier to read. In this book, Katie is set to have a great summer. She is on the baseball team with her brother and her mom and dad are coming to their games. It opens at a game where she makes the winning play, except her mom and dad aren't there to see it. When she gets home something seems seriously wrong, but she figures she must be mistaken. Eventually Mom and Dad take Katie and Ken to the be
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Feb 28, 2010
Crystal
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This is an amazing book. From the first page, Kate took me right into the story and I could relate to so many things that were going on when I was a kid.
Kate is at the start of one of the best summers of her life until her parents bring her the news that her mother has cancer and it is inoperable. The rest of the book follows Kate and her family through the summer and how they deal with the coming death of a beloved family member.
I have never been a big fa More...
Kate is at the start of one of the best summers of her life until her parents bring her the news that her mother has cancer and it is inoperable. The rest of the book follows Kate and her family through the summer and how they deal with the coming death of a beloved family member.
I have never been a big fa More...
Mar 01, 2010
Molly
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This was a wonderfully written book. I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to review this book. It is a short and easy read, as will be my review. Gene Fehler pulls together an unforgettable story of a young girl struggling with death of a loved one from cancer and feeling like her life is unfair. The issues and ways of handling this and God all shine through in Fehler's work. I will say that this book is geared toward younger people, especially those who may be struggling with death and
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Nov 05, 2010
Gina
rated it: 
Another kindle freebie I downloaded thinking even though its a kid's book, I might actually enjoy it ~ wrong. I'm not a very religious person. Remarkably, I do tolerate most Christian Fiction as long as the author doesn't shove it down my throat.
This story is written for age 9-12. Its about Kate, the main character and narrator, a 12 year old girl having the best summer of her life until tragedy unexpectedly strikes her perfect family. The rug is pulled right out from underneath he More...
This story is written for age 9-12. Its about Kate, the main character and narrator, a 12 year old girl having the best summer of her life until tragedy unexpectedly strikes her perfect family. The rug is pulled right out from underneath he More...
Jun 02, 2010
Lenore
rated it: 
My latest venture into the Y.A. life was learning the lessons of real life. Here I was again a kid. Remember the struggles of learning the rules of life. Yes, we tend to forget that it was hard to always fit in, know the way and be accepted. "Never Blame the Umpire" was junior high again. And not in the bad way! But where we stretched our bodies to the limits in sports while reaching with our minds for new ways to communicate. So much like Kate I tried to learn how to fit into the rule
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Mar 11, 2010
Chris
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I recieved this book from the First Reads program. The book is aimed at a younger audience... as a former fifth grade teacher I'd say about age 11 would be a good younger end of the range for this book, both for reading level and content.
As books for the age group go, I'd say the writing style is about average. I didn't dislike the book, but didn't find anything spectacular in it, either. The characters were fine but didn't really draw me in or make me deeply identify with them, the story More...
As books for the age group go, I'd say the writing style is about average. I didn't dislike the book, but didn't find anything spectacular in it, either. The characters were fine but didn't really draw me in or make me deeply identify with them, the story More...
Mar 16, 2010
Melissa
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Kate has the perfect life and the perfect family. She has two great supportive parents and a wonderful little brother. She loves sports and is looking forward to spending her summer playing baseball and tennis and writing poetry in her creative writing class. The biggest problem Kate thinks she has in life is her disappointment when her parents fail to attend her opening season baseball game where she gets the game winning hit. That is until she finds out her mother is dying. The news rocks
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Mar 13, 2010
Kathy
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This is a young adult book about dealing with the death of a loved one. It doesn't shy away from the hard questions that go with death and grief; on the contrary, the reactions of the two kids in the family are honest and accurate. Kate's experiences over the course of the summer - the advice she's given, the things she ends up doing - gently offer up tools for coping that I think would benefit any kid of about the same age that's dealing with a loss. The poetry worked well in the context of t
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Jun 09, 2010
Lacey
rated it:
I read this for work, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. I wouldn't have missed much.
Gene Fehler's depiction of the main character, Kate's, voice, is far too simplistic for the heavy issues this book struggles to address -- the death of Kate's mother and Kate's journey to understand it and God. It really felt like an old man pretending to be a little girl . . . which is exactly the case. The religious message, while not *too* heavy handed, was still too pat and " More...
Gene Fehler's depiction of the main character, Kate's, voice, is far too simplistic for the heavy issues this book struggles to address -- the death of Kate's mother and Kate's journey to understand it and God. It really felt like an old man pretending to be a little girl . . . which is exactly the case. The religious message, while not *too* heavy handed, was still too pat and " More...
Mar 13, 2010
J.
rated it:
Received this book because I won it on Goodreads, and am I thankful. This is a good read.
The story concerns an eleven year old girl and her family of a father, mother and younger brother. Things are going well, at least ok for her and then she faces a tragedy in her family. They are a religious family and a sports family, as well.
The rest of the book concerns how she first is mad at God and then how through her sports and her poetry and her family life and friends, she f More...
The story concerns an eleven year old girl and her family of a father, mother and younger brother. Things are going well, at least ok for her and then she faces a tragedy in her family. They are a religious family and a sports family, as well.
The rest of the book concerns how she first is mad at God and then how through her sports and her poetry and her family life and friends, she f More...
Apr 19, 2010
Rose
rated it:
I won this book through Goodreads. Gene Fehler follows the story of an 11 year old girl struggling with her mother's cancer diagnosis. The story is somewhat "preachy," but might work for a very young Christian reader dealing with heavy subject matter.
Dec 14, 2011
Annalisa
rated it:
I wanted more depth from this book. I know it's middle grade, but I've read depth in middle grade. I wanted to feel for Kate, ride this story along with her, with all her heartache and doubt, but it felt more like the story was told to me. Like it was a story in a Sunday School lesson to answer the question "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" and the teacher says, "Let me tell you a story about a girl named Kate who had that same question."
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Mar 05, 2010
Mail, Others, then this one. It'll be a while, unfortunately. I like to think I'm catching up, but every time I finish one, I win another. Not that I'm complaining. Free books are the best thing ever.
Feb 24, 2010
Missy
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For my thoughts on this book, visit Book Review: Never Blame the Umpire by Gene Fehler | Incurable Disease of Writing.
Nov 07, 2010
Nancye
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Very sad story but a great lesson. They use the an analogy comparing umpires to God. Easy read but sad too.
Mar 26, 2010
Sarah
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I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Decent story line, but just an okay book.
May 19, 2010
Damian
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It was a good story, but to God oriented. The whole story somwhat revolved aroundgod and Jesus.
Jun 04, 2010
Vika
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This book is written for an age group of 9-12 i think, i really liked how innocent and PG this book was :) And it had a good message about God, how you can cope with a tragedy through poetry and prayer.
Overall this was an OK book, a quick read.
I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Overall this was an OK book, a quick read.
I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Feb 09, 2012
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