• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

Everything stops making sense for southpaw Travis Barkley when his parents die in a car crash and he is separated from his sister, Amanda.

After years of being in the foster-care system, Travis receives a puzzling postcard from Amanda and heads to southern California to try to find her. His search is a dead-end until he meets Jesse and Ethan. With the help of his new friends, Travis continues to look for Amanda. Travis's love of baseball is rekindled when Ethan convinces him to pitch on his baseball team. His attention divided, Travis must decide between jeopardizing his chance at a future in baseball and connecting with his sister.

This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!

Steven Barwin is a middle school teacher. He is the author of Hurricane Heat in the Orca Sport series and several Lorimer Sports Stories novels, including Fadeaway, Rock Dogs, SK8ER and Icebreaker, which was chosen as a Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids and Teens selection.

Steven Barwin's profile page

• Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens, starred selection

"Barwin is particularly good at depicting the sports scenes. His close attention to detail and use of first-person narrative allow the reader to experience the doubts and triumphs that are integral to any player's experience in a game situation. Barwin's understanding of the team dynamic, on and off the field, is also very believable...Travis is a likeable character who is trying to do the right thing."

CM: Canadian Review of Materials