Finding Buck McHenry

by Alfred Slote

Book Overview

"Daydreamer Jason, 11, has just been [dropped] from his Little League team. Seeking solace at the baseball-card shop, he makes a startling hypothesis: 'Buck McHenry, ' star pitcher [of the Negro Leagues], could be school custodian Mack Henry. Mr. Henry's identity, in doubt through much of the book, provides a mystery, a bittersweet revelation, and a satisfyingly dramatic denouement. The characterizations are pungent, the action (on and off the diamond)...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064404692
• ISBN13: 9780064404693
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

An All-Star Book

This book is a great book for baseball lovers and non-baseball lovers alike! Jason loves baseball, but likes collecting baseball cards even more. Unfortunately, Jason is not a very good baseball player and is cut from his team and sent to play on an extension team with other rejects. Trying to cheer up, he goes to the Grandstand, a sports store, and discovers a legendary Negro baseball player named Buck McHenry who just might might be a school janitor in his town living under the name of "Mack Henry"! When Mr. Henry admits that he is Buck McHenry to his grandson, Aaron, and to Jason, the news leaks out to Kim, another player on the extension team. Kim's father, a great, famous newscaster finds out and is about to tell everyone Mr.Henry's real identity! Soon Kim, Aaron, and Jason realizes that things might not always be what they seem! This is a wonderful bok with a surprising ending. Once you start this book, you won't be able to put it down. Overall, I give Finding Buck McHenry five stars! Vivian Grade 5

Goin' buck wild for Buck McHenry!

I can feel it in my bones, this old Negro League book touched me like a jagged bolt of lightning! This heart- wrenching novel is a dramatic masterpiece. It made me feel good because I can really relate to Buck. I know that when I was being chased down the street by someone who thought I was Mickey Mantle, I was just as upset as Buck. In fact, it brought me to tears because Buck was not a real person and I could not talk to him about our similarities. The closest I could get to Buck McHenry was talking to the picture of him on this extraordinary novel. Watching the movie, starring Ossie Davis as Buck, is the highlight of every day. I watch it religously at 12:24pm and 7:02pm, and sometimes at 3:46am when I've got Buck on the mind. He is truly the biggest inspiration in my life. Jason (hottie) Ross believes the school janitor is an old negro league player with a scar like a jagged bolt of lighting, from a scrape with the law, on his leg. I could feel it in my bones that Jason would find the scar shaped like a jagged bolt of lightning on the old Negro Leauge player. Jason, Kim and Aaron alone make up the team "Sluggers", coached by who is thought to ba an Old Negro League player. However, we will not ruin the ending of this story, like Bridget (you know who you are) did for me. Thanks a lot! :( One thing I can tell you about the end of the movie is there is an exciting cheer from a crowd screaming: BUCK! MACK! BUCK! MACK! This gets my heart racing, causing me to take my medication, every time. There are also humorous supporting characters such as the baseball card shop man who says: "Since when did I become an adult! " This line gets me reaching for my medication every time! I am so crazy about this movie! In fact, all my clothes have the 4 which the newscasters wear embroidered onto them! I recently visited the town in which they filmed this movie and took the sign welcoming me to the city. It is now hanging above my bed where I can view it every night. I would recommend this book and the movie to anyone because it is wonderful, inspirational and a joy to read or watch again and again and again. It has made me believe in myself, that yes, I can be just like Buck! Buck McHenry is my hero, and the hero of anyone who will take the time to read this book.

I read it over and over again!

I first read this book when I was ten years old, I loved it! I was into collecting baseball cards and this book was so cool. Now I am 17 and I still read it as an inspirational book because it gives me hope and inspiration in my own life, no matter what I am doing. This is a great book and I reccommend it to anyone of any age!

great book

I read this book when I was about 12 years old, when we went on a trip to washington. I read the book as much as I looked at the sights. It's a terrific story, it captures the fears, likes, and miseries of being kids very well. Not only that, but has intellegent baseball information.

This book is worth reading even if you don't like baseball.

I really enjoyed this book even though I don't like baseball very much. I started reading it and really got into it quickly. This is a book I would reacommened to everybody. It touches on African American history and what it used to be like playing baseball in the Negro leagues. It is a slightly emotional book so have kleenex handy in case you start to cry