The Kid from Tomkinsville (Odyssey)

Worth reading---in my case, re-reading. I hadn't thought about this book in a long time since I was probably nine or ten when I first read it and was pulled into the story of "The Kid" as he tries to make it into major league baseball. A man I was talking to recently mentioned it, and said he felt this book, which he estimates he'd read 17 or 18 times, had influenced his life. Granted, 1940s' Brooklyn Dodgers portrayed in the book are nothing like the multi-billion dollar franchise they became after the move to L.A., but the emotions of young players, and older players whose careers are ending---those haven't changed over the years. This may be a bit of a tough read for young readers since Tunis drops characters in without explanation and the reader has to figure out who "Casey" is, and what is being discussed. Still, this is a wonderful time capsule with a heroic young man who is getting to live his dream, and has to learn how to move through his nightmare and on to success.

The Kid From Tomkinsville is about as dated as Huckleberry Finn. Anybody who dreams about spring training or the unheralded rookie phenom who is going to take the league by storm should regard the John R. Tunis' masterpiece as required reading. The feel of baseball at its purest permeates in a way that it cannot be put down whether you last read it 40 years ago or are reading it aloud to your 9 year old sitting next to you, oiling a new glove. The Kid's grandmother sitting on her porch in a small Connecticut town during a thunderstorm listening to the Dodger night game through the radio's static is timeless; as is the aging journeyman catcher, hands on hips, visor of his cap inches from the Kid's ear standing on the mound in an 8th inning jam, telling the Kid to trust his stuff and count on the 8 guys behind him on the field. A classic.

I am a sucker for baseball stories and l though it to be an all most believable story. But you know when I was young and playing ball I liked to read the key stone kids books and day dream about me playing on the Brooklyn Dodgers team and pitching against Yankees. I would recommend this story to any one who ever daydream , like this old man use to and still dose

This is probably my fifth reading of the Kid... getting ready for baseball season. Wonderfully written... set in the late 1930's, it takes you back to simpler times when kids grew up admiring baseball players and the glories of the come from behind season. I've read this to my kids around 1980 and I'll probably read it to my grandkids in the next year or two. John R. Tunis is a great storyteller, and this is one of his best.

Very enjoyable. God read for youth or adults with a historic like for baseball and it heroes of yesteryear. Fictional account of The Kid who could have been anyone or everyone was a sweet story.

For you baseball enthusiastic people. This a well done read. While slightly predictable there is a flare that can only be obtained with age. The story follows a kid and his makes and breaks.While I can't attest to big names that played back then I can attest the writer made some names sound big. He played them up well. The detail and description would do an old radio announcer proud

This is a great book about growing up and getting to do some of the things you dreamed of as a child. I am not a baseball fan but found this to be a wonderful story about life. I think a baseball fan might enjoy it even more than I did.

I was looking for a baseball story. That's what I got. I enjoyed it so much, I passed it to my grand son, who found it on his summer reading list. He also enjoyed it.