Hard Ball

Rating:
Summary: Hard Ball Teaches Hard Lessons
Review: The book HARD BALL by Will Weaver is I think one of the best books I have every read. The main character is Billy Baggs he live on a farm with a well loving mother but his dad sometime seems like he doesn't love him and is an abusive father. Billy is 14;he lives on the farm, and loves to play baseball. He is a pitcher for his farm, which is not a real legal they just play the town team. He is also hopping to pitch for his school team. His has had a big crush on this girl that he think he has no chance with. After they go to a baseball game together they start to like each other. The thing is the girl Billy likes (Suzy) is protected by the one person Billy true hates. Suzy grew up with a king Kenwood and less just say Billy and king's family don't get a long well. King catches Billy and Suzy making out in Billy's barn and king and Billy have a big fight over it. The coach and both of the kids parents decided that the best for this not to happen again was to make them become friends so they had to spend more time together so they had to suspend the whole week together which include of sleeping over at each others houses. But this would never help the fathers become friends because they were enemies as well. The author used the many literary elements some of the ones were similes metaphors and those were the only ones I picked up on.

Rating:
Summary: A well written novel, people of all ages can identify with.
Review: This book is about a boy named Billy Baggs who lives in a rural part of the town. To put it mildly, he lives on a farm, and rides 2 hours each day to school. Billy's latest problem is the pitcher on the Town Team. Actually, it's the fact that King likes the same girl Billy likes. After King and Billy get in a fight, the Coach of the baseball team comes up with a way to solve the boys' problem. Or so he thought. I think that Will Weaver did an excellent job on this book. The characters are all very real, and have real problems that could exist in real life. The solution to the boys' problem was creative, but I do think that the strike between the parents was a little ridiculous. The setting could be anywhere and apply to anyone, and I applaud Mr. Weaver on that.

Rating:
Summary: Grand Book
Review: This book is great. It isn't for fifth graders though. It uses mild language and stuff that some sixth graders don't know about.

Rating:
Summary: It was an OK book
Review: This book was well written, butt needed a little more to the plot of the story, it is worth reading and will keep you happy.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written book!
Review: This has to be one of the best novels I've ever read. I'm only a mild reader, so to find a book this pleasing is very unusual for me. I would definitely suggest to everyone, but especially those who enjoy a great plotline and an excellent mixture of topics.

Rating:
Summary: Best book in series!
Review: This is the best baseball book in the series of Billy Baggs. I would recommend it to 5th graders through 9th graders. It has some bad words, but the story is creative. Baseball fans would love it. All my friends who liked baseball had it. I started reading and couldn't stop. I finished in a week because it is great! Will Weaver has wrote the best baseball book.

Rating:
Summary: Hardball attempts strike three, but awards ball four instead
Review: Will Weaver's novel Hardball was a good book, but a little too clichéd. I for one have read the whole "poor farm boy tries to compete in a rich town kid's high school world" way more times than I would care to admit. The characters in this book are a little too boring as well. Billy Baggs has to deal with the pressures of his life at school and on his farm. He loves to play baseball, and he has a team that plays on a field that he and his mother built on their farm. His father, however, does not support Billy's desire to play baseball. Meanwhile, Billy's archrival King Kenwood lives a very privileged life. He's a three-sport athlete, and also a very talented baseball player. He and his father work together at baseball, because King's brother was a minor league baseball player, and King's father believes he could make it to the next step. Billy and King end up going to the same high school, and end up competing for the same spot on the baseball team, as well as King's girlfriend Suzy. When the baseball coach becomes tired of King and Billy's constant fighting, he comes up with a plan- a plan involving yet another cliché of walking a mile in another person's shoes. King spends three days at Billy's house, working on the farm before and after school, and Billy spends three days at King's house, living what he thinks is a life of luxury. Oh boy, here comes the biggest plot twist EVER!!!
Just kidding. The two sworn enemies realize that they may not like each other, but they dislike the pressures put on them by their fathers much more. Billy is tired of having to try and do the work of three men and still live the life of a boy, and King no longer wants to live in his brother's shadow. This ultimately creates another conflict, and the boys hatch a plan. In the end.... Well ok, nothing really happened in the end, which is my biggest complaint about this book. Well, ok, my biggest complaint is the complete lack of a plot at all. The only conflict in the whole book is between two teenagers and their fathers. For me, it's enough of an everyday situation that I don't need to waste my time reading a book on it. However, for some reason, I couldn't put it down. If you like baseball, I'd suggest reading this book. If you want a book with action, excitement, or anything remotely interesting, I'd recommend skipping this one.