The Best of the Best

By Tim Green
Sport: Baseball
Rating: 3 3/4 stars

This is the 3rd book in the Baseball Great series, following Rivals.  Josh is fresh from winning the big tournament with his team, but then his father challenges him to play on his Little League team that has a chance to make it to the Little League World Series.  Josh agrees as long as his friend Benji gets on the team, too.  But Josh has more than that to worry about--his parents are splitting up and his dad is suddenly making gooey eyes at Diane, a real estate agent.  Josh can barely focus on the game while dealing with everything going on at home, and he's sure that Diane is up to no good and that there HAS to be a way to fix his broken family.  Meanwhile, Josh's coach is less than the best, so Josh begins to do a little coaching on the side to try and bring his team together.  So while he and his team battle to make it through to the many rounds to get to the Little League World Series, Josh and his friend Jaden investigate Diane to see if they can find a way to put Josh's family back together.  There's a lot of heart in this story, along with some great baseball action.  Fans of other books about Josh in the Baseball Great series will enjoy this one as well.