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Super Sluggers: Wing Ding by Kevin Markey

Review by Chris Singer

About the author:

Kevin Markey always feels a thrill when baseball spring training opens in Florida in February. Where he lives, snow usually covers the ground at that time of year. The opening of the major league camps is like the annual return of robins—it means spring is just around the corner.

Kevin is the author of Slumpbuster, Wall Ball, and Wing Ding—the hilarious first, second, and third books in his Super Sluggers series of baseball adventures—and several books of nonfiction. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children, and a lovable yellow-haired dog named Happy. He bats left, throws left, and types with both hands.

About the book:

“I’d heard stories about the yips actually taking over a player’s arm. Making it twitch like a dog with fleas. But I’d always thought they were urban legends.”

After winning the pennant last year, the Rounders can’t wait to host the midseason All-Star Game!

But shortstop Stump Plumwhiff’s got a mean case of the yips. Balls used to disappear into Stump’s glove as if he were a one-man Bermuda Triangle, but now he’s jumpier than the grasshoppers infesting Rambletown Field.

Nothing can get these bugs to bug off, not even the windiest weather in Rambletown history!

The Rounders need a way to rid Stump of the yips and their home field of insects—before the hated Haymakers hijack the All-Star Game.

My take on the book:

Wing Ding is the third book in Kevin Markey’s Super Sluggers series. I enjoyed Wing Ding so much I went back and also read the first two books in the series (#1: Slumpbuster & #2: Wall Ball).

This series is perfectly suited for middle-readers who enjoy baseball or sports in general. The books are full of laughs and quirky exaggerations, but still have a believable and engaging plot. Many readers will really enjoy the names of the characters (Stump Plumwhiff, Gasser Phipps, Banjo Bishbash aka The Great Walloper, just to name a few) as well as the strange weather which always seems to plague Rambletown.

Parents with children in sports will appreciate the positive messages in this series. With so much focus in our society on winning, I love how the author downplays winning as opposed to other values such as determination, supporting your teammates, and working hard to achieve your goals.

One of the best parts of Wing Ding was after their all-star shortstop Stump Plumwhiff makes four errors to cost his team the game against their bitter rivals, the Haymakers. Instead of finger-pointing and blaming him for the loss, Stump’s teammates bond together to figure out a way to help Stump get over the “Yips” and get back to his all-star form. This is a great message for kids playing sports today, and the author did