Rooting for Rafael Rosales

Rafael has dreams. Every chance he gets he plays in the street games trying to build his skills, get noticed by scouts, and—someday—play Major League Baseball. Maya has worries. The bees are dying all over the world, and the company her father works for is responsible, making products that harm the environment. Follow Rafael and Maya in a story that shifts back and forth in time and place, from Rafael’s neighborhood in the Dominican Republic to present-day Minnesota, where Maya and her sister are following Rafael’s first year in the minor leagues. In their own ways, Maya and Rafael search for hope, face difficult choices, and learn a secret—the same secret—that forever changes how they see the world.

Kurtis Scaletta is the author of eleven books for young readers. Many of them are about baseball, but he has also written about snakes, robots, and giant fungi. He grew up in five states and three foreign countries, but now stays put in Minneapolis with his wife, son, and housecats.