HEAT, a novel by Mike Lupica

Lupica, Mike. HEAT. New York: Puffin by Penguin Group, 2006, 220 pp.

Awards: None (yet) but this is a #1 New York Times bestseller, and that's not too shabby. Mike Lupica is an accomplished author with many titles under his belt. And, uh, that Carl Hiassen guy likes this book a lot.

Genre: Cuban Americans/adolescents, baseball, the Bronx, growing up in the city, surviving the death of a parent, non-traditional families, boys & girls athletes

Here's what Miss Martha says about HEAT . . .

First of all, I cheated. . . I cheated because, although I hadn't already read this book, I've already read and re-read all of Mike Lupica's books for us "grown-up" types. (Wild Pitch is my fave, in case anyone cares.) So I had a pretty good idea that I'd love this book. And I did. Confession over, let's move on.

Summary
Michael Arroyo is a 12-year old boy growing up in the Bronx, and he's got something every boy (and man, for that matter) would love to have -- an ace pitching arm that's already being compared to that of legendary Sandy Koufax. He has Manny, his best friend, confidant and catcher, and he's met the girl of his dreams, a beautiful girl named Ellie, who also has an amazing arm. But, beneath Michael's ducky surface is the rest of his life, and he's paddling like crazy to stay afloat. He and his brother Carlos are on their own after their father passed away. They are illegals who came over on a boat from Cuba. They are constantly afraid of being found out by DHS, and they are barely keeping the electricity on and Oreos stocked in the pantry. The pitcher's mound is the one place Michael feels completely confident and comfortable. But he's thrown off the mound, too, when a rival team's coach challenges whether Michael is really 12-years old, or if he's too old to play in the Little League anymore. Without proper paperwork to prove who he is and when he was born, Michael may not only get permanently ousted from the League, he could also face much more dire consequences . . .

Review
If you've Wild Pitch by Mike Lupica, all you need to do is take those characters and dial them back 20-25 years. We have a lot of the same stuff here -- best friends pitcher and catcher, fabulous strong woman character, nail-biting play-by-plays, and lots of humor to break up the tension. Having said that, I didn't care! I still loved it. Keep in mind that I am a total sucker for baseball stories, so I am definitely jaded.

Mike Lupica does a terrific job creating memorable and realistic adolescent characters. At times, the repartee between the characters feels a little forced, but I think this may be due to the fact that Lupica is more accustomed to writing about and for older readers (and also could be because he needs an editor who spends more time listening to the word choice and rhythms of city street kids . . . ) But, I have no doubt that as he continues to write for adolescents (and he already has -- a book called Travel Team that allegedly rocks) he will loosen up a bit and stop being so self-conscious with the teenspeak. False dialogue plucks at my ears because I'm a playwright and a Theatre person; so, I hear the words in my head as I read them. And sometimes these just border a bit on the corny.

But here's what's not so corny. This book does a tremendous job of addressing the question: "What is family?" in a time when the traditional nuclear family is largely a thing of the past. Michael and his brother Carlos have a sprawling if untraditional family made up of (among other people) a Super, a neighbor, a coach, friends' benevolent mothers, and eventually, a SURPRISE friend (not telling you -- you gotta read the book.) If I were an immigrant kid or someone being raised by people other than a traditional mom and dad, I would stand up and cheer several times throughout this book.

Do you remember the old-fashioned Disney movies, when our hero gets in a pretzel and then crazy things happen, and then everything ends up being okay? That's what HEAT is like. But it feels authentic when it's happening. And you aren't sure if they're going to win the big game, escape the DHS officials, keep the electricity on, end up in juvvie . . . and you hang on until the end, through each suspenseful inning to find out if those Arroyo boys are going to make it.

This book would be a terrific free choice book for a reader's group. I can easily see a table of 5th or 6th grade boys chatting it up about Michael, baseball, and (whether they intended to or not) what it means to be a good friend and family member. Girls would love this book, too. Ellie is a strong character and a darn fine athlete. And, it turns out . . . oops. Read the book.

The play-by-plays of the baseball games could be a lot of fun for a read-aloud in class. Teacher and/or (willing) kids could take on the persona of a game announcer. Doesn't that sound fun?

Great issues. Great characters. Suspense. Summer. Baseball. What else do you want?

Somebody tell Stephanie Stidham that her reluctant reader will love this book if he likes baseball at all.

Read it, people. It's fun. And it has a great ending.

And that's what Miss Martha Says .