Another Book for Middle-Grade Boys!

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

24 Jun 2009 12:37 AM

Mike Lupica is fast becoming as well-known for his middle-grade novels-in particular, the Comeback Kids series-- as for his sports writing and broadcasting. Safe at Home is a book about baseball, friends, parents' expectations, and fitting in. The main character, Nick, was adopted from foster care when he was nine. This underlies and explains many of his reactions to things. Lupica manages to convey to the reader how Nick's experiences have influenced his perception of things without making the story all about adoption. As I said, it's a baseball story. Descriptions of the plays and of the relationships among teammates take center stage-make that center field.

One refreshing thing about the novel was a friendship between Nick and a neighbor girl his age that was portrayed as a real friendship and caring about each other, daring to challenge each other for the other's own good, and having fun. It seems so many stories now try to portray every male-female relationship, even among children, through the lens boyfriend/girlfriend relationships or potential boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. I appreciated this about this novel, which I shared with my eleven-year-old son.

One of Nick's biggest worries is that he is letting down his academic parents, who know nothing about baseball, by not getting the grades they expect and by not being enthralled by literature as Nick's dad is. Sometimes differences in temperament and ability are often found even in families that adopted infants, due to the genetic nature of some traits. (For my response when I was questioned about this, see my blog Vive la Difference.)

Lupica also gives us a moving insight into foster kids' feelings when we get a glimpse of the past: a couple who spent several days with seven-year-old Nick and told them he'd be coming to their home, then decided to adopt an infant instead.

There is something highly unlikely in Lupica's treatment of adoption though. Nick was told that his birthparents "gave up their parental rights" when he was born. Usually when birthparents voluntarily plan an adoption for their children, there is a surplus of families ready to adopt infants. Birthparents help to choose the adoptive family, and even in a closed adoption there is usually a lot of non-identifying information. The child is often adopted right at birth, or may be in a foster home for a few days or weeks while the birth mother still can change her mind. In this story, we are told that Nick lived in one foster home until he was three and another from age three to age nine, when he was adopted.

Please also see these reviews of other middle-grade books with an adoption theme:

Kimchi and Calamari

The Ocean Within & Tides

Learn more about Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism.

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