Heat

By Mike Lupica
Sport: Baseball
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Noelle

Michael "Miguel" Arroyo is a 12 year old who emigrated from Cuba with his father and brother and lives in the Bronx in New York City. His passion in life is baseball, be it listening to the Yankees game (especially when his Cuban hero, El Grande, is pitching) or pitching for his Little League team, the Clippers. Michael is good at pitching. In fact, he is too good. With his team hot in the running to go to the Little League Championship in Pennsylvania, some other jealous coaches issue a challenge to Michael. Produce your birth certificate or you can't play. Suddenly Michael is in real trouble because if people start looking too closely into his life, they might find out his secret--that his father has been dead since May, and he and his brother Carlos have been covering it up so the state won't split them up. With officials sniffing around his family, the Clippers trying to win games without their star pitcher, a beautiful baseball-savvy girl named Ellie hanging around, and his birth certificate missing in action, Michael has all he can handle. Will his secret come out? Will the Clippers make it through the playoffs without him? Will his birth certificate turn up? Will Michael ever get to pitch again? This engaging sports story will have readers cheering Michael on until the very end. Fans of this story might also be interested in Mike Lupica's basketball story, Travel Team (see review) .