Under the Baseball Room

by John H. Ritter

Book Review

Publishers Weekly :

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The lyrical title of Ritter's latest may mislead fans of his terrific previous book, The Boy Who Saved Baseball. The subject here is actually music, and the hero is a 16-year-old skateboarding trumpeter named Andy Ramos, who's in love with a softball pitcher. What this work shares with Boy is a realistic setting infused with fable. This time Ritter riffs on a legend about a blues musician who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for stardom. Becoming a world-class trumpeter is just what Andy has in mind as he begins the summer, intent on devoting each day to the launch of his musical career. Then Glory Martinez, his childhood nemesis, returns to Ocean Beach, now a gorgeous teen with a wicked curveball and outsize dreams of her own. The two quickly discover that each brings out the best in the other's performance, which becomes problematic when various concert dates conflict with tournament schedules. An eerie stranger in black also appears who knows a great deal about Andy's dreams, talks in riddles and makes promises too good for Andy to pass up. Ritter's dialogue crackles with the rhythms of the funky California setting, and Andy's passion and ambition give the novel its heartbeat. "A song's journey," he learns, "is not complete until it reaches an audience," and while this solid performance probably won't appeal to the readers who loved Boy, it ought to introduce Ritter to a new crowd: music lovers and romantics. Ages 11-up. (May)

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School Library Journal :

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Starred Review. Gr 7-10–Skateboarding Andy Ramos, an aspiring teen trumpeter whose understanding parents and loving, late grandfather were musicians, forms a fusion music band (mixture of hip-hop, Latin jazz, and rock) called FuChar Skool with two like-minded friends. At the same time, he meets up with Glory Martinez, a former neighbor in San Diego's funky, honky-tonk Ocean Beach neighborhood who has just returned to the area. When he and Glory were in elementary school, she was a great embarrassment to him, but now she has matured and become a promising softball pitcher. Gradually Andy develops a close and somewhat codependent relationship with her–Glory needs Andy's trumpet riffs at her games to pitch effectively and he needs her to be present at his performances. Ritter adds to this mix three offbeat, strangely omniscient tricksters–a Croatian fortune-teller who speaks in riddles; a street Holy Jokester who speaks in jive rhymes; and Max Lucero, a mysterious, ominous figure who attempts to buy Andy's soul by guaranteeing his musical success at all costs. Sparkling with descriptions of music improvisation and softball action, and with expressive, idiomatic Spanglish dialogue, Andy's poetic first-person narrative superbly catches the weird uniqueness of Ocean Beach and briskly moves the somewhat overlong story to a satisfying conclusion.–Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego

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*Starred Review*

Gr. 7-10. In The Boy Who Saved Baseball (2003), Ritter seasoned the familiar Bad-News Bears formula with a splash of myth and a touch of otherworldliness. Here he uses the same spicing in a story that mixes softball and jazz--and the results are equally tasty. Andy Ramos is a San Diego teen with dreams of making it big in the music business, but even his head-turning trumpet playing won't be enough without a few breaks. Enter a mysterious street person who claims to be able to launch Andy's career--think Robert Johnson at the crossroads, making a deal with the devil--and suddenly those elusive breaks fall Andy's way. Then a childhood friend, Glory Martinez, a talented softball pitcher with Olympian dreams, returns to Andy's Ocean Beach (OB) neighborhood, and romantic sparks fly--until it appears that Andy's strange benefactor sees Gloria as a threat not a soul mate. Ritter pulls out all the stops in his myth-heavy plot, but what really makes the book soar is his sense of place: the laid-back, hippie-influenced, communal spirit of the OB permeates every scene, offering stark contrast to the coldly commercial world toward which Andy aspires. As in his earlier work, Ritter melds style to content beautifully, telling his story in a hip, street-smart argot that perfectly matches Andy's trumpet improvisations. Teen friendly, lots of fun, never preachy, but with plenty of thematic pizzazz.
BillOtt.

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