SOAR, by Joan Bauer

The story: Jeremiah has always loved baseball, but a heart transplant at age 10 is still keeping him on the sidelines. When he and his dad move to Hillcrest, Ohio, Jeremiah thinks he's going to baseball heaven--but he lands in the middle of a scandal, and finds the team demoralized and fading. Who would ever have expected a nerdy 6th grader to pull them back together and help them claim the biggest win of all?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language G; Violence G; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG-13 (steroid use among athletes); Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (parental abandonment, chronic ill health, coach pressure to use PEDs) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: This one will be great for younger readers--say, grades 4-6--who are really into sports. (That would not be me. There was WAY too much baseball in this for my taste, and I'm skeptical that the game is a metaphor for life at large, but boys will still like it. That's the most important part.)