The Koufax Dilemma

My 10-year old son is not the first one to run to the books every night to read! However, when we picked this book up he looked forward to picking up the story where he had left off and seemed to really enjoy the characters.

Danny's life is baseball. Though when his divorced mother starts to go out with someone, Danny is worried she will get remarried. Since his dad can't come to his games anymore because he's travelling too much with his new wife nobody will come and see him play. Also, Passover is coming up and his mom won't let him go to any games on Passover because of a seder he has to go to. With all this going on he is afraid to tell his coach he can't play in a game against their biggest rivalry. Will Danny stop worrying about everything and continue to concentrate on baseball? Read the story to find out.

I enjoyed this book. It is about the importance of observing one's holidays and preserving one's traditions. But not at all costs and not without compromise, flexibility and change. When his mother insists that Danny miss the Little League opening game in order to attend a Passover seder. Danny is miffed. But eventually he does realize that loyalty to his family and faith can be achieved without disloyalty to his team. Along the way Danny also comes to terms with his parents' divorce, learns alot about the fallibility of adults and matures in general. I particularly appreciated the fact that the way in which the Passover seder is observed is non-traditonal and thus very realistic for a large segment of the Jewish population. Attendance at a Passover seder is something that 90% of Jews do, most of them in a not strictly traditional way. Well done with lovely illustrations