Summer Baseball Car Baseball Sock Ball Wall Ball The Time Tower: can you get older faster? The speed of light: can it be measured? A carp, washed up in the riberbank: what's inside? Larry, Witt, and Rafferty have a whole summer to play all the different kinds of baseball, to build structures in the backyard, to find out what makes the world tick. "We've got to keep busy," says Witt. I want to know everything. Not just part." Larry doesn't want to know what keeps him heading for Witt's backyard, rich with weeds and rotting appliances, whenever he's not at baseball practice. All he knows is that there's no one he'd rather be with than these two friends, that the chaos of Witt's universe offers refuge from his own orderly home and an entrance into a world of change, growth, and unpredictability. THE HOTEL EDEN author Ron Carlson's first novel for young readers is a heady immersion in the first moments of adolescence, when nothing is as it ever was before. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

"This is what we know about death, right here," Witt Dimmick says to his friends Larry and Rafferty, pointing at the burned-out remains of a TV set that was, moments ago, the stage for their latest mad-scientist experiment (trying to revive Witt's pet lizard, killed by his abusive father). It's a typically stoic musing from Witt, an odd child forced to grow up too quickly. But Larry, the story's narrator, is the fish out of water here: he is a good student from a good home, and his parents cannot understand why he spends so much time with his troubled friend. Larry, for his part, doesn't understand, either-but he is drawn to the "special chaos" that is Witt's life. The boys conduct experiments to try to make sense of their world, digging a "geothermal pit" to reach the earth's core (they quit after a few feet) and constructing a crossbow to retrieve the violin Witt's father hurled into the trees. Carlson (The Hotel Eden, for adults) divides the book into three sections, one for each month of the boys' summer exploits, and this structure is both the novel's strength and weakness. The framework emphasizes accurately the malaise of being 12 years old and not knowing what you want from life, but while individual episodes stand out here and there, the overall effect is akin to a high-minded Beavis and Butthead, minus the laughs. Ages 12-up. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 8 Up-The difficult and mysterious slide from childhood into adolescence is described in this unusual novel. The book is set in a rather rough-and-tumble, working-class neighborhood during the 1950s or early 1960s. Early in the summer, Larry and his friends concentrate on their innumerable ball games, breaking the sleep-out record, and conducting their elaborate and dangerous science experiments, which mostly entail blowing objects up or mangling them in some way. As the summer goes on, however, things change for the boys as their lives subtly shift and their interests begin to broaden. Larry stands up to a bully who has terrorized his younger brother and finds himself noticing girls for the first time. Readers see most of the changes through his first-person narration that is beautifully written, yet manages to seem like the genuine voice of a boy on the verge of becoming a young man. As compelling as this novel is, though, it is not for everyone. Some will find the story slow moving and uneventful. In some ways, it is more of a book about childhood for adults. Yet, many teens, especially those who appreciate great writing and who can take a distanced look at their own lives, will find Larry's account to be absorbing and to ring true in many ways.-Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 4-7. The author of several short-story collections for adults focuses his first novel for young readers on three best friends, who spend the summer after sixth grade playing endless varieties of baseball, exploring their small town, and trying to figure out the secrets of the universe. Witt, a genius with a violent father, leads the pack, followed by narrator Larry, and Rafferty, who is half-blind because he refuses to wear his glasses. Readers will see their own lives in the friends' improvised games of baseball, backyard sleep-overs, and experiments about everything from reincarnation to the speed of light, but the narrative tone may not resonate as widely. Although Larry uses the present tense, some kids may have trouble believing that his longing, contemplative voice is that of a 12-year-old on summer vacation; it sounds more like a Wonder Years voiceover. Kids who can appreciate the understated, beautiful writing and the nostalgia, however, will enjoy the moving story of what Larry calls his last great summer. --John Green Copyright 2003 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.