The Prince of Fenway Park

Reviewed by Sara McGinn (age 9) for Reader Views (7/09) Oscar Egg feels cursed. A bully at school teases him. His real parents didn't want him and his adoptive parents got divorced. When Oscar thinks of being cursed, he thinks of the Boston Red Sox. They have been cursed for eighty-six years. One day Oscar's mother tells him he's going to stay at his father's house for a while. His father lives under the pitcher's mound at Fenway Park. Oscar learns it is dangerous and that secrets lie there. His father is half fairy and half human. Oscar's father is also part of the Red Sox curse. Oscar thinks this is hard, but it's nothing compared to what he goes through to break the curse. Enduring a wild Pooka ride, making a weasel a spy, and going back in time are just some of the things he goes through to break the curse. To find out what else happens, you have to read "The Prince of Fenway Park." This book was mystical and adventurous. The curse had many magical creatures and I also felt like I was in the adventure with Oscar. This book was mostly about baseball. Even though I am not a fan of baseball, I loved this book! I will always remember "The Prince of Fenway Park" by Julianna Baggott for it's enchanting ways.

I enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend this for kids 9 & up. If you are familiar with the Anybody series, or The Slippery Map, you know what to expect. If not, you should expect lots of fantasy, with creatures, lots of creatures. There is also mystery, baseball history, and more. You don't have to know baseball history to enjoy this book, it is also about racism, fitting in, and being cursed. Keep all this in mind and enjoy reading The Prince of Fenway Park.

Twelve-year-old biracial Bostonian Oscar Egg feels cursed. Bullies pick on him at school. Ignorant adults point out that he doesn't look like his white adoptive mom. His parents are divorced and he only sees his sad, sickly dad now and then at Pizzeria Uno. He's never met his mom's boyfriend - is she ashamed of her brown-skinned boy? He feels like he doesn't belong anywhere. And to make matters worse, his beloved Red Sox are losing - as they have since 1919, when they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Oscar knows that selling the Babe "cursed" his team. But he only learns how real that curse is when his dad takes him home to a weird alternate world below Fenway Park, where Oscar reads the actual curse and meets the Cursed Creatures: bizarre fairies, a horned organist, Weasel-Man, and more. Since 1919, they have been waiting for the one person who can break the cryptic curse and set them, and the Red Sox, free ... Although there's no mystery how things will turn out (the cover proclaims "There was a curse. It was reversed. This is the boy who did it"), the story has plenty of drama and suspense and some nice plot twists. The writing is vivid and the characters and dialogue are terrific. The moral point, about moving beyond the legacy of bigotry, is presented straightforwardly and eloquently. Baseball fans and non-fans alike will enjoy meeting some of the greats. And if the book reminded me from time to time of Field of Dreams mixed with Finian's Rainbow, Monsters, Inc. and A Wrinkle in Time, the story always stands on its own unique feet. If I have one quibble, it is that about three-quarters of the way through the book I began to question whether some of the motivations driving essential plot points really made sense. However, my fourteen-year-old daughter - a voracious but critical reader - assured me that they did. So maybe they do - or maybe the book is just such terrific fun that it doesn't really matter.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I've been a Red Sox fan my whole life, which is why I picked up the book. The path that the protagonist takes, a mixed-race adopted child of what turns out to be a mixed-race (though not how you'd expect) parents goes from our reality to the fantasy world of Irish folklore to be entwined with baseball history and then back to our present reality. Although this book is targeted at young adults (Oscar, the title-character has his 12th birthday during the course of the story), the book deals with issues that anyone with a love for the game and a respect for its history will understand as central to the game's importance in American history. And then there's a baseball game of 12-year-old greats and how cool is that!

I'm a Tampa Bay Ray's fan here and was a little hesitate about a tween book that promotes the Red Socks. The story begins with a orphan, Oscar that just does not fit in at school or at home. He finally finds a "home" after being deserted and unwated once more and discovers that he has gift. He could be the one to break the curse. This book continues with Jullianna Baggott's aka N.E. Bode's style of writing. There are twists and turns with magical creatures that live underneath Fenway Park. There is a battle between good and evil to release the curse. Some history is also sprinkled in. Overall a must read for those that enjoy a baseball adventure and root for the underdog!