Kurtis Scaletta's Site

Welcome to Moundville, where it’s been raining for longer than Roy McGuire has been alive. Most people say the town is cursed — right in the middle of their biggest baseball game against rival town Sinister Bend, black clouds crept across the sky and it started to rain. That was 22 years ago . . . and it’s still pouring.

Baseball camp is over, and Roy knows he’s in for a dreary, soggy summer. But when he returns home, he finds a foster kid named Sturgis sprawled out on his couch. As if this isn’t weird enough, just a few days after Sturgis’s arrival, the sun comes out. No one can explain why the rain has finally stopped, but as far as Roy’s concerned, it’s time to play some baseball. It’s time to get a Moundville team together and finish what was started 22 years ago. It’s time for a rematch.

• Named one of the Top 10 Sports Books for Youth in 2009 by Booklist.
• A Midwest Connections Pick by the Midwest Booksellers Association, Literary Pick of the Week by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and School Library Journal pick of the day.
• This humorous and tender ode to baseball is as full of hope and suspense as Casey’s famous turn at bat. –The Horn Book
• Mudville will hit a home run with baseball fans of all ages. – Sports Illustrated Kids
• Scaletta’s debut is a gift from the baseball gods. – Booklist
• Readers will cheer Roy on as he struggles to get his team in shape, clicks with a girl who is new to the game but turns out to have an unhittable natural screwball, and weathers some rough waters with moody Sturgis on the way to a rousing climax. – School Library Journal
• Scaletta has written a very readable story with many twists and turns. – Minneapolis Star Tribune
• Enjoy this funny book about wet fields, boys, baseball and dads who love the game. – Winston-Salem Journal
• Scaletta offers a nifty combination of baseball action, tall tale, interesting characters and even a little romance in this hugely entertaining first novel for young readers. – The Buffalo News
• [Scaletta] weaves the sports and the family and the mystery together with the same careful stitches that close the leather on a baseball, with the same end result: a lot of game in one small package. – Kidliterate.com