Four baseball fans come up with the perfect plan to help the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in The Year They Won. Check out this review of a teen novel by author, Gerard Purciello, and other books for kids.
Title: The Year They Won
Author: Gerard Purciello
Ages: 10+
Rating:
Four baseball fans come up with the perfect plan to help the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in The Year They Won. Does this baseball novel hit a homerun or strike out? Find out right here.
Baseball in 2024
The year is 2024 and both the world and the game of baseball have changed dramatically. Garbage is being fired into outer space, there's a global water shortage, players are supposedly being cloned and the Boston Red Sox haven't won a World Series since the team's historical playoff run of 2004. Jerry "Tags" Taglia and his three best friends are die-hard Red Sox fans, who believe their beloved Sox are under another curse that will prevent them from winning another World Series for decades to come. So, they put together The Plan to help the Red Sox return to championship glory - even if it means stealing the World Series.
The Plan
In 2024, umpires no longer call balls and strikes or outs. The umps have been replaced by a central computer and camera called The Brain, which makes the calls from the back of the stadium by reading sensors that have been placed on the field and in player's gloves. After discovering a secret way into Fenway Park through a sewer tunnel, Tags and his buddies find the room where The Brain is kept and plot to switch the angle of the camera so the calls will favor the Red Sox. With the Sox trailing the evil Yankees by just one game going into the final weekend of the season, the boys have to act fast. But just like in the world of sports, a good game plan can often produce disasterous results.
The Bottom Line
While the idea behind The Year They Won is pretty unique, this book moves a bit slowly and it would've been nice if it went into more detail about the technology behind The Brain and computerized umpiring. But overall this is a fun book about baseball, best friends and believing that your team deserves to win.
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