Review of "Brooklyn Nine" by Alan Gratz

Reviewed by Luke Antinori, an 8th grader at Cane River Middle School who plays baseball and is an avid reader.

The Brooklyn Nine is a little untraditional in the way it’s written, because it’s told in 9 “innings.” Each inning tells the story of a generation in the same family’s history, starting in 1845, when a German boy stows away on a ship and goes to America to be with his uncle. The second generation is the

little German boy’s son, who is fighting in the Civil War. The seventh inning takes place in 1957, Brooklyn New York. A boy named Jimmy Flint gets into a fight over baseball cards with a bully who’s bigger than him. The eighth inning is dedicated to Michael Flint, who may or may not have thrown a perfect game on a warm summer day in 1981. The common line that prevails through time is each character’s love for America’s favorite pastime, baseball.

All throughout the book, someone from this family is connected to a piece of our nation’s history. Starting in the first generation, Felix Schneider helps stop the 1845 fire of Manhattan. His son is a Union soldier in the Civil War. In the fourth inning Walter Snider, a boy living in Coney Island, faces the issue of segregation. After that episode, the characters’ direct involvement in historic events become less and less until the 9th inning which has no tie-in to history.

Overall The Brooklyn Nine was an excellent book, and I would recommend it

to anyone over the age of 11 who enjoys the game of baseball. I really liked the fact that it had so many characters, and you got to learn all about them. I could see traits of their parents in them. The book made me feel like I had grown up with every single kid and I knew them very well. I read it cover to

cover in one sitting. That’s how good it is.

Gratz' most recent book is Fantasy Baseball.