“The Rhino in Right Field,” by Stacy Dekeyser.
McElderry Books, New York, 2018, 257 pages, Grades 4-7.
Though baseball has been delayed this summer, there is still hope that some sort of season can be played. The reasons for this are many. Sitting with your friends and family in the stands makes for a relaxing day. Eating hot dogs, salted pretzels, pizza and drinking pop with your friends is fun. Since baseball is a leisurely game, there is plenty of time to visit.
At the ballpark, children sometimes look with envy on the ball girls and bat boys. Wouldn’t it be fun to be on the field? Twelve-year-old Nikko (“Nicky”) Spirakis dreams of such a marvelous event. To become a bat boy on his hometown team, the Mudpuppies, is all that he could ever dream of. Stacy Dekeyser takes us on Nicky’s adventure to the baseball field in this comical, funny and touching novel, “The Rhino in Right Field.”
It is tough to find a playing field in central Milwaukee. So, Nicky and his friend Ace join a group of boys on a grass field at the city zoo. There are several problems with this. First, the zookeepers chase them away when they see them. Second, if they hit the ball too far, it lands in the rhino enclosure behind right field.
In the first game, Nicky’s nemesis Pete slugs a ball into the rhino area. Gathering his courage, Nicky leaps over the fence and retrieves the ball. He runs fast, which is a good thing since the rhino is chasing him. After making it back over the wall, he throws the ball back into play.
The other boys think Nicky is brave. Heading home, they go to Nicky’s house. Mrs. Spirakis has just made a delicious Greek supper, and much to Nicky’s embarrassment, affectionately pinches him on the cheek. Ace, a German-American, thinks the food is wonderful but is confused because the Greeks keep waving their hands and speaking so loudly. Nicky sagely knows that is just the way Greeks act.
Mr. Spirakis trains Nicky at his store, The Elegant Shoe Repair and Hat Shop. Having immigrated from Greece, Mr. Spirakis knows that to become successful in America, a person must be trained. He is determined to teach Nicky the business.
Nicky isn’t so sure. He sees an ad about a contest to be a batboy for the Mudpuppies baseball team. Nicky wants to try out for the bat boy position, but his immigrant father thinks it is foolish. So, Nicky forges his father’s name on the application and dreams up a school field trip to get out of working the next Saturday.
All is well until it is not. He feels terrible about deceiving his parents and goes through with the plan with a guilty conscience. All the bat boys are called out onto the field to determine the winner. The final question is a doozy. But why is the rhino in the answer?
Does Nicky become the bat boy? What does he learn about deceiving people? What happens to the rhino at the end of the story? What does the author teach us about love and family? To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out “The Rhino in Right Field.”
This is a most delightful book. We see Nicky trying to figure things out like a 12-year-old boy would. The lack of high-level psychology is part of the reason the book has so many funny parts. When Nicky thinks about girls, he admits that he is not “too swift.” The cultural misunderstandings between the Americanized Nicky and his parents ring true. But the depth of the love in this Greek family is deeply touching. I hope you get a chance to read this charming story. In the midst of this coronavirus lockdown, it was just the tonic I needed.
