School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Oscar cheers on his baseball team, the Wildcats, but his coach never puts him in the game. When he finally has a chance at bat against their rivals, he ends up using a powerful watch to stop time and hit a homerun. Oscar soon discovers that stealing time has broken the universe. To save the world, he must hit a bona fide home run and beat the other team, fair and square. The Wildcats is made up of a diverse line-up that includes players Kamran Singh, Bobby Farouk, and Oscar's new friend Lourdes Mangubat, whose family is from the Philippines. Lourdes is brave and athletic, and is one of many strong female characters. Oscar himself is humorous, supportive, and kind: he enjoys helping his elderly neighbor, Ethel Ellington, with chores. The game scenes are suspenseful, and the time travel plot is as logical as it is inventive, making this an accessible and entertaining read. Like many middle grade books, the story contains valuable life lessons: Oscar and Lourdes not only learn how to win gracefully, but how to play without fear of losing. VERDICT This sporty science fiction story's suspense, humor, and likeable characters give it broad appeal for middle grade -readers.-Lisa -Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Young, habitual benchwarmer Oscar learns in the worst way that actions have consequences, when he uses a very special pocket watch to stop time just long enough to fake a game-winning home run, and, whoa, creates a chronic rift that threatens to collapse the entire space-time continuum. As if the rough treatment Oscar gets from bullies on the rival West Mt. Edna Yankees isn't bad enough, the appearance of pterodactyls, trees with tentacles, and a second sun signal that time is well and truly out of joint. Is there a way for Oscar to repair the damage? Yes, though it will require traveling back in time to a game in 1935 and (about equally likely) hitting a home run for real. It's an arbitrary fix, but readers shouldn't have too much difficulty rolling with it, thanks to a plucky spirit and a motley assortment of allies led by superstar Filipino teammate Lourdes Mangubat. A mildly surreal tale, reminiscent in several ways of Saving Lucas Biggs (2014).--Peters, John Copyright 2017 Booklist
