Rating: My bookshelf

Reading Level: Early Elementary

In this cute mystery, Kate and her cousin, Mike, investigate the mystery of a baseball bat stolen from Boston Red Sox’s superstar. I’d put the reading level & suspense in somewhat of the same league as the original Boxcar Children mysteries.

My potential concerns are relatively minor:

  • Kate, the heroine, lives with her mom (only), so if divorce is a sensitive issue for you reader you might wait a while.
  • The story centers around Big D’s “lucky “ bat. I’m not a big proponent of luck, and I like that Big D even eventually hits a homer with a different bat. So I really wish they had just called it his favorite bat.
  • At one point Kate lies when she & Mike are caught in a sticky defective situation. This is common in mysteries when snooping around, so it’s hard to hold it against them.

Otherwise, no major issues. I had even fewer hesitations about Book 16 in the series, The Colorado Curveball, but be aware that other books in this series do emphasize ghosts in way that is not for me.