Heart of a Champion

Reviewed by Grandma Bev for TeensReadToo.com

Seth Barnam's father was a golfer, and it probably would have been Seth's game, too, but his dad died when Seth was only seven. Coming to terms with his father's death was difficult for Seth, but then he met Jimmy Winter. Jimmy has lots of baseball talent, and a father that demands perfection from him. The boys become fast friends, and both sign up for Little League, even though Seth feels inadequate compared to his new friend.

Their time together is spent practicing baseball, with Jimmy's father usually there to coach them and urge them to improve. Jimmy's intensity and self-assurance on the playing field begins to rub off onto Seth, too. He improves as a student and as a baseball player, and he dreams of being as good as Jimmy.

Then Jimmy's home life begins to unravel; his father is drinking too much and then his parents divorce. Seth is at a loss when Jimmy is caught drinking and suspended from the team. Jimmy just can't seem to get his life back on track, and his choices lead to an unexpected result.

This is an exciting novel, loaded with baseball action. It will have an intense appeal to anyone interested in that sport, but the main focus is on the friendship that develops between Seth and Jimmy, and of coping with the consequences of foolish choices, and the grief of dealing with incomprehensible loss. It's easy to read with well-developed, likable characters, a gripping plot, and plenty of action. I highly recommend this book, especially for boys, but girls will also enjoy this story of a forever kind of friendship.

Notes: An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Best Book for Reluctant Readers A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Book of the Year.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Sports Greatness

Heart of a Champion by Carl Deuker is about a 15 year old boy named Seth. Seth is a nice, caring, and honest kid. He enjoys playing baseball and hanging with his friend Jimmy. In this book Carl Deuker really captures the way decisions can affect your life and everybody else's lives around you.
This book takes place in Redwood City, California. One day Seth decides to go to the nearby baseball fields and ends up meeting a id named Jimmy. They become best friends, and after that, the book takes off. Seth takes up baseball, and practices and puts all his time and effort into baseball. Seth, in his first season of playing, faces the disappointment of not making the Little League majors and is not on his friend Jimmy's team. The next year, Seth has the drive to make the majors, and he does, and then Jimmy moves away, so they are separated again. Then when high school roles around, Jimmy has moved back and Seth makes JV and Jimmy makes Varsity, and then Seth starts to slack and is moving farther and farther away from a varsity spot. Then all of a sudden, after a talk with his coach, he puts more and more effort into baseball and the next season he makes the varsity role. At this time Seth and Jimmy have met a kid named Todd and they have been drinking. Their high school team is going for a championship. Then an unthinkable thing happens and the team is faced with tough times and have to make some difficult decisions.
I thought this book was great for kids who love to read sports stories. This book was great because it used a lot of great baseball jargon. I loved the theme that hard work can and will pay off in the long run, how if you're not the best, just work at it, and you will get your chance. The one thing I didn't like was the ending. It was a little confusing, and I thought it should of had a little more description. Overall, I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes sports.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good book about baseball and a freindship

This book was really good. He learns how to play baseball. His freind teaches him to love the the game. He live breaths and thinks about baseball. Everyday he goes outside and throws a ball ageinst the wall to pracice feilding a baseball that is hit on the ground. His dad was an amzing golfer and he dead when he was still young.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is really good and has a good meaning to it.

I like how Carl Dueker made this have a good meaning to it. Overall it's pretty good. The ending is really sad but it had to be that way. Carl Dueker probably wrote this book to have a good meaning and if it means a sad ending well then it'll have a sad ending. This book ws really good and I recommend it to many people.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

majorbookworm17

This book was truly amazing, I cried in the end when Jimmy died but it took me less than 4 hours to finish this book, it was a great story, and it shows how someones life can be messed up if they get addicted to achocol, this is my favorite book, and I realized that you don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

How many pages in book?

How many pages in book?

Interesting

Shows that hardwork and dedication can really bring you far in life and sports

Boring, non intersting book.

I believe this book did not meet up to my expectations, the literal "styles" and such prove to be no matter or what I intend to read. This book I do not indeed recomend, as you shall fall asleep within the first chapter.

A Awesome read for all ages

On the day Seth Barham met Jimmy Winter, his life changed. Seth had been an, confused pre-teen who had never come to terms with his father's death when he was seven. He meets Jimmy in a park as Jimmy's strict father is putting his son through intense baseball drills. As their friendship develops Jimmy's self-assurance on the playing field spills over into Seth's life, helping him to improve as a student and a baseball player. However, Jimmy's home life begins to come apart when his parents' divorce. Also, he is suspended from the team when he starts to drinking problem. Seth withstands peer pressure to drink, and, with his mother's support, begins to accept his father's death. However, his biggest battle comes when he must cope with Jimmy's death in a car accident!

worth reading for sure

sad but a great story.

Best Book

This sports fiction novel, by Carl Deuker, is a great story about growing up, peer pressure and friends. I have read a lot of sports novels but this one, by far, is the best.
When Seth Barham was 7 his dad passed away. At that time, he really didn't have any friends, until he me Jimmy Winter. Jimmy is freakishly good at baseball, and he he also gets Seth into it. Seth Jimmy and Jimmy's dad play baseballl every weekend at a park. But then one day Jimmy's parents got in a divorce, and jimmy and his mother moved to a different city. Both Seth and Jimmy played little leauge, but they played on diferent teams. Seth had not heard anything from Jimmy, until one day when Jimmy called and said that he was coming back to his old house and they were going to play on the same baseball team. They are best friends, and Jimmy is still great, and is always hitting home runs. Jimmy is giving him self a career in baseball. Then on day Seth faces an unthinkable loss.
This book was great. It is a great story about being a teen, and the things you may have to face in real life. I give this bok an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. I also highly recommend this book to people.

Highly recommended for those who love baseball!

I am Nash Osborne from Hewitt-Trussville Hight School in Alabama. Heart of a Champion by Carl Deuker is about a young man that has grown up in a small town with just his mother. Seth is an average student at school that has never played a game of baseball in his life until he stumbles across Jimmy and his father one day at a baseball field not too far from Seth's home. Jimmy and his father take Seth under their wing and teach him the game of baseball in a matter of days. Seth and Jimmy have their careers planned out of how they will play together and be the "perfect double-play combo." That is until both young men experience some adversity and jimmy has to move. They both continue to work hard and exceed in baseball, pursuing their dream of one day playing major league baseball. Heart of a Champion expresses the qualities of teamwork, leadership, faith, hope, and the will to win not only in sports, but in life itself.
This novel was a great read because it kept you interested and it was very unpredictable in what happened. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of reading, but I loved this book because I can relate to baseball stories and learning the game very easily. Baseball brings many great life lessons to the table and can teach how to overcome the world's adversity. Heart of a Champion was a quick read yet hard to put down. I recommend this novel to young adults that are interested in sports and with a love and passion for baseball.

Great sports novel

This story is about a kid named Seth Barnam who dreams about playing in the major leWhen Seth Barnam was a little boy his father died of a stroke in a hotel that he was staying in while on a business trip. A few years later while at the park in his hometown he meets a kid named Jimmy Winter. Jimmy gets him interested in baseball and they soon become best friends.ague of his favorite sport baseball.This was a great book .It would have been better if it had a little more detail, but other than that it was a worth the read and I would recommend it.This was an easy read for older children. Baseball fans and sport fanatics would also enjoy it.I loved this book. Baseball is sport for all ages' boys and girls.

Looking for a great book for any reason? Here it is!!

Heart of a Champion is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Carl Deuker really did it with this one. I would compare this book to Lays potato chips. They say, "Betcha can't eat just one." Well that's how this book is. I bet you can't read just one chapter at a time. This book leaves you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole book. Yes it is about sports, for most sports fans i would recommend, but it has many life lessons in it. Seth's dad passes away when he is at a young age. For quite a while Seth was quiet in school and didn't have many friends. He didn't play any sports either. That is until he met Jimmy. meeting Jimmy totally changed Seth's life around. Jimmy was a total baseball freak. Even telling Seth it's like a fever once you catch it, you ain't getting rid of it. Well catch it is exactly what Seth did. Jimmy and Seth became the best of friends. Even though Seth wasn't quite as good as Jimmy, he had one thing over a lot of people. The work ethics that Jimmy put onto him. Not only did he see improvement on the field, but also in the classroom since his concentration was better. Jimmy and Seth play together in high school also, under former MLB player Sharront. With a team made of many good players can they win the state title? Well what happens when some of their players begin to drink, can they still do it?
Read this amazing book to find out yourself. I loved it, and I guarantee you will too. =)

Great Book!

This book was a very entertaining and inspirational book. It truly shows how family problems can affect a child, because of Deuker's personal childhood experiences he lost his father at the age of three. I read this book this year (8th grade), and would strongly recommend it.

One of the best books of the year.

This book was amazingly good. I play baseball and this book related to me a lot. I hope all sports fans have the chance to read this book.

One of the best baseball books ever

Heart of a Champion is a very good baseball book. Seth Barham is a great example that if you work hard at something, you can be good at it. If you like baseball, I would definelty recommend this book to you. Overall it is a top notch book.

Great Baseball Story!

This book was full of non-stop baseball excitement. The characters had a heart for the game and made the story suspenseful. Even if you're not a baseball fan you will still enjoy the plot of this book.

Awesome

This book starts off a bit slow, but as the story progresses, you are slowly drawn into Seth's world. I recommend this for all those baseball fans out there. This book will leave you laughing and crying. A great book all around.

Amazing

this book waas amazing!!!I couldn't stop reading it! The plot and everything about it was exellent! I would recomend this book to anyone.