These fun, illustrated early chapter books feature the adventures—and misadventures—of the Pine City Porcupines, a hapless baseball farm team, and their two batboys: Chad, an avid baseball fan with a huge baseball card collection, and Dylan, who doesn't know a thing about the sport. The fictional series has a unique twist: Chad solves problems by using information from Topps cards of real figures from modern baseball history.Pine City Porcupines batboy Chad breaks an important unofficial rule of baseball: Don't talk to the starting pitcher when he's got a perfect game going, where not a single opponent has reached base. Now, because Chad opened his mouth, the entire Pines dugout is upset, and the team may lose to the second-to-last-place West Valley Varmints. Chad has to consult his baseball card collection to figure out how to help his beloved Pines pull off the perfect game.

It's Chad's first spring as a batboy, and the Pine City Porcupines are hot—until they come up against the league-leading Heron Lake Humdingers. Now Chad's got a whole lineup of problems: his favorite player, shortstop Mike Stammer, thinks he's jinxed; Dylan, the other batboy, doesn't even like baseball; there's a goofy new porcupine mascot on the field; plus, Chad has to fill in as batboy for the Herons. It's a good thing there's something in the cards—his baseball cards, that is—that can help Chad sort it all out.

Umpire Solomon Johnson is squeezing the strike zone and throws out both the Pine City Porcupines starting pitcher and manager "Grumps" Humphrey for arguing the call. Chad tries to make peace by giving Solomon a rarely issued "umpire card"—but the ump blows his top. He thinks Chad is making fun of his weight. It's going to be a long nine innings!

Chad's got the summertime blues: his parents want him to be home by midnight (no extra innings) and eat healthier (no corn dogs). His friend, Abby, has bobblehead issues. And then there's pinch hitter Sammy Solaris. But Sammy has problems of his own. He has a big swing but is too slow. If he can't speed up his running and stealing, he'll be off the team. There's got to be something Chad can do to save the day . . . with a little help from Dylan, a baseball card, and that porcupine!

These fun, illustrated early chapter books feature the adventures—and misadventures—of the Pine City Porcupines, a hapless baseball farm team, and their two batboys: Chad, an avid baseball fan with a huge baseball card collection, and Dylan, who doesn't know a thing about the sport. The fictional series has a unique twist: Chad solves problems by using information from Topps cards of real figures from modern baseball history.Teddy "Bear" Larrabee, a slugger on the Pine City Porcupines, gets his 823rd base hit on his birthday, August 23—and it's a home run! The Bear is a big believer in the power of numbers, so he asks Pines batboy Chad to retrieve the ball from the stands. There's only one problem: the crabby fan in the ballpark who caught it. Chad really wants to keep the Bear happy and slugging, so he's just got to figure out what the fan would be willing to trade for that 823 ball.

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.

Diego Prado has spent most of his time on the Pines' bench. But when Danny O'Brien goes on the disabled list, Diego gets a chance to play—and he's on a winning streak! Danny wants one of Chad's "magic" baseball cards to get back in the game. Diego wants to keep playing. What's a batboy to do?

When 13-year-old Eric Parrish comes across glowing mushrooms in the woods behind his house, he's sure there's a scientific explanation. But when they start encroaching on the town--covering the football field and popping up from beneath the floorboards--Eric knows something's seriously wrong. Not that much else is going right: his parents are fighting, his little brother Brian is a little pill, and he's had a falling-out with his football team--over a pig.Then a runaway girl from a nearby boarding school warns Eric that the fungus could portend the town's doom and leave it in rubble--just like the village that inexplicably disappeared in the exact same spot over 200 years ago. Eric, Brian, and Mandy set out to solve a very old mystery and save the town of Tanglewood.From the Hardcover edition.

When his dad gets a job at the U.S. embassy in Liberia, twelve-year-old Linus Tuttle knows it's his chance for a fresh start. Instead of being his typical anxious self, from now on he'll be cooler and bolder: the new Linus.But as soon as his family gets off the plane, they see a black mamba--one of the deadliest snakes in Africa. Linus's parents insist mambas are rare, but the neighborhood is called Mamba Point, and Linus can barely go outside without tripping over one--he's sure the venomous serpents are drawn to him. Then he hears about kasengs, and the belief that some people have a deep, mysterious connection to certain animals.Unless Linus wants to hide in his apartment forever (drawing or playing games with the strange kid downstairs while his older brother meets girls and hangs out at the pool), he has to get over his fear of his kaseng animal. Soon he's not only keeping a black mamba in his laundry hamper; he's also feeling braver than ever before. Is it...

Seven feet of snow, four science-fair nerds, one creepy junkyard. Get ready for the ultimate robot battle.Jim is tired of being the sidekick to his scientific genius, robot-obsessed, best friend Oliver. So this winter, when it comes time to choose partners for the science fair, Jim dumps Oliver and teams up with a girl instead. Rocky has spotted wild otters down by the river, and her idea is to study them. But what they discover is bigger--and much more menacing--than fuzzy otters: a hidden junkyard on abandoned Half Street. And as desolate as it may seem, there's something living in the junkyard. Something that won't be contained for long by the rusty fences and mounds of snow. Can Jim and Rocky--along with Oliver and his new science-fair partner--put aside their rivalry and unite their robot-building skills? Whatever is lurking on Half Street is about to meet its match.From the Hardcover edition.