Safe at Home by Mike Lupica

Reviewed by Lucas Najera
Grade 5

Will Nick ever be adopted? Will he ever get the family he wished for? Will he ever get a Dad that loves baseball as much as he does? Read along to find the answers to these questions in Safe at Home, a Come Back Kids Novel by Mike Lupica.

This book was a sports book. It was about a kid named Nick who is an orphan. He visits many families that are looking to adopt a child. He only spends one day with each family. Each time he would get his hopes up, but the family would choose another child to adopt. One of the potential families took him to a baseball game. From that day on Nick loved baseball and could not stop thinking about it. This was the family that he really wanted to be his family. But sadly, they did not adopt him. Nick thought it was a perfect match because the dad loved baseball. But Nick’s love for baseball didn’t cease. He loved the crack of the bat, the food vendors and seeing the players run around the diamond.

The main character in the book, Nick, seemed very distracted. He spent all of his time playing baseball. When he returned home from baseball practice, he would read comic books instead of doing his homework. While in school he would not pay attention but instead think of baseball. He fell behind in school, and did not catch back up. His teachers talked to him about doing better in school. He said that he would do better, although he did not. I thought he was just lazy.

I am not really a big sports fan, but I would still recommend reading this book. If you do happen to be a sports fan then I would highly recommend this book. The author did an outstanding job in writing this book. He really knows sports and even included a little mystery along the way. It seems very realistic. The only thing to consider in determining whether you would want to read this book is that it is very sad. So, if you do not like sad stories you should pass on this book. If not, it is a great book to read.