Now in paperback!

MUDVILLE
by Kurtis Scaletta

Yearling / Random House
ISBN 978-0-375-84472-0
$7.99 Trade Paperback

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
An imprint of Random House Children’s Books
ISBN  978-0-375-85579-5
$16.99 Hardcover
On sale February 24, 2009
Children’s Middle Grade Fiction / Ages 9-12 / “Fresh Fiction from New Voices”
Fiction set in a small town in Minnesota / sons and fathers, boys and baseball

Featured on our Twin Cities Live WHAT TO READ NEXT book segment on June 21!

“This is a great book for those of us impatiently waiting for April and baseball season!! ……From April through October, we follow Twins baseball……We become like children, ‘Is it April yet? Is it April yet? Is it April yet? How many more days until April?’ A lot of people have complained that the baseball season is now six months long. We are not these people. So what to do? READ MUDVILLE!”
– Jennifer Geraedts, Beagle Books, Park Rapids, MN

Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!  Click here for the directory of our member bookstores.

MBA Bookseller Information

For more sales or marketing information about this book, please contact your Random House Children’s Books sales rep.
If you would like to inquire about publicity and events for author Kurtis Scaletta, please contact Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers:  Kathy Dunn, Publicity, 631-283-5923 or 917-325-3881, kdunn@randomhouse.com.

MBA Booksellers: earn up to $75 in rebates for promoting this book!  See the marketing information and rebate form below.

Here’s a great idea for a MUDVILLE display in your bookstore!

Downloads

Please download these PDF files for the June 21 Twin Cities Live book segment and print out the sign and shelf-talkers to use with your displays of these books.

SIGN FOR JUNE 21 FEATURED BOOKS (PDF)
SHELF-TALKERS FOR JUNE 21 FEATURED BOOKS (PDF)

Note:  The shelf-talkers need to be printed on card stock and cut apart along crop marks. Each book has its own shelf-talker, which is double so that it can be used either on the shelf under the book, or as a slip card standing up from the top of the book like a large bookmark.

• Full color sign/flyer (PDF)
• Full-color shelf-talker (PDF)
• Web banner ad 160 x 600 (GIF)
• Web banner ad 300 x 250 (GIF)
• Web banner ad 728 x 90 (GIF)
• Q&A with author Kurtis Scaletta (PDF)
• Reader’s guide (PDF)
• Author photo (JPG)
• Book photo (JPG) – paperback
• Book Photo (JPG) – hardcover
• Midwest Connections Rebate Form (PDF)
• Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials – MC logos, print ad templates, signs, shelf-talkers, book marks

About the Book

“This is a great book for those of us impatiently waiting for April and baseball season!! ”

“From April through October, Jen and Sally follow Twins baseball. After the World Series is finished in October, we sigh with satisfaction –we have drunk deep once more from the baseball chalice. Then comes the holiday marathon beginning with Halloween and ending with New Year’s. Following that, we get baseball teasers: spring training (which of course takes place in January), glimpses of the next year’s team in the Sports pages of the newspapers and brief mentions in the sports report on the news. And then — We wait. And wait. And……wait.

“We become like children, ‘Is it April yet? Is it April yet? Is it April yet? How many more days until April?’ A lot of people have complained that the baseball season is now six months long. Sally and Jen are not these people. So what to do? READ MUDVILLE!

“’Mudville’ is the nickname of Moundville. Twenty-two years ago it started raining in Moundville during a baseball game between Moundville and Sinister Bend (what a great name for a rival). That means it’s been raining for 12-year-old Roy McGuire’s entire life. The baseball field has been washed out (even the bleachers are gone). Roy lives with his dad and their cat Yogi. Roy’s mom is a flight attendant with a drinking problem who has abandoned the family. Roy comes home one day to discover another boy in the house: Sturgis. Then it quits raining. Not wasting any time, Roy puts together a baseball team with Sturgis as his star pitcher. The boys weather through adolescent struggles of friendship, family, and teamwork.

“This is a very satisfying read. I recommend this for baseball fans aged 10-110. If you’re not a baseball fan, but know a young baseball fan, this book is a great introduction to the sport, nicely nestled in a good story.”

– Jennifer Wills Geraedts, Beagle Books, Park Rapids, MN

 Carla:  “MUDVILLE by Kurtis Scaletta is a baseball story with a twist—or two—that make it stand out from other sports stories.  Set in a small town said to be cursed by Ptan Tanka, a baseball-loving Native American, it’s peopled with characters with their own personalities.  Among them are the main character, a baseball fanatic in a town where no one has played baseball in his lifetime because it’s been raining for 22 straight years; his father, an entrepreneur who makes a living selling Rain Redirection Systems and cooks fish stick casserole for dinner; Roy’s new foster brother Sturgis, who has a prosthetic ear and is the son of a pro baseball player now in prison; and even some attractive baseball-playing girls.  It’s the perfect book for those hard-to-reach middle school boys who have just discovered girls and would rather be playing baseball than reading.”

Joel:  “As a 7^th grade boy who likes baseball, I could identify with Roy, the main character in MUDVILLE.  It’s a good story where unexpected things happen.  If you like baseball books, you should read it.  Watch out for the ending!”

– Carla Ketner, Chapters Books & Gifts, Seward, NE
– and her 7th grade son Joel

 A story about brothers, baseball, and a whole lot of rain.

Welcome to Moundville, aka Mudville, where it’s been raining for longer than twelve-year-old Roy McGuire has been alive.  Most people say the town is cursed – right in the middle of their biggest baseball game against rival town Sinister Bend, black clouds crept across the sky and it started to rain.  That was twenty-two years ago…and it’s still pouring.

Baseball camp is over, and Roy knows he’s in for a dreary, soggy summer of digging ditches in the mud, pretending his dad’s meals are edible, and wishing he were still playing ball.  But when he returns home, Roy finds a foster kid named Sturgis sprawled out on his couch.  As if this isn’t weird enough, just a few days after Sturgis’s arrival, the rain stops.  No one can explain why it’s finally sunny, but as far as Roy’s concerned, it’s time to play some baseball.  It’s time to get a Moundville team together – with Roy catching and Sturgis pitching – and finish what was started twenty-two years ago.  It’s time for a rematch.

Kurtis Scaletta makes his literary debut with this witty, heartfelt novel about fathers and sons, brothers and baseball, and a whole lot of rain.

KURTIS SCALETTA was born in Louisiana and grew up in New Mexico, North Dakota, England, Liberia, and Brazil, among other places. He now lives in Minneapolis with his wife and several cats. He got the idea for Mudville during a rain delay in a game between the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers. He wondered, “What if it kept on raining?”

Midwest Connections Marketing Plans

• $75 in REBATES from MBA for display photos, ads, features in your newsletters, e-newsletters, and on your store website – print out the REBATE FORM above and follow instructions.
• Contact the publisher to inquire about bookstore events, book club or reading group appearances, and/or phoners with the author.
• Banners for the book on the MBA website.
• Flyer/sign and shelf-talker PDF files provided by the publisher.
• Web banner ads provided by the publisher. Use one or more of these banner ads on your store’s website to enhance your online promotion of this book, and you can earn a rebate from MBA for your ad.
• Reading copies of MUDVILLE available from Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers and MBA – contact the MBA office if you need a book.
• A great choice for kids’ reading groups, particularly for boys. Reader’s guide and author Q&A provided by the publisher.
• Midwest Connections print ad template. You can have your local newspaper add the book photo and copy for you, plus your store’s information. Earn a rebate from MBA for your ad!
• Midwest Connections stickers, shelf-talkers, signs, bookmarks for in-store displays – earn a display reba