Description
" Author Lara Reznik hits it out of the park with her ode to baseball, growing up, and the game of life in Thexa0M&M Boys, a fictional take on living next door to two of the greatest sluggers who ever picked up a bat.xa0Tween, Marshall Elliott, parents' marriage is crumbling when his idols, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris xa0move into the neighborhood.xa0Reznik weaves the fanciful with the reality, mixing real-life events with fiction batting .400. . . . You don't need to love the game to enjoy this yarn , as Reznik makes it an enjoyable run around the bases for all."xa0--Joanna DelBuono, Brooklyn Daily " A tender tale of coming-of-age meets baseball heroes! Who wouldn't want to be in that kid's cleats when two of sports' greatest legends move in next door? What all three M&M Boys had in common is a good lesson in how to play the game of life, on and off the field. When giving up isn't an option, all three M&M Boys learn what it takes to become a winner." Part Holden Caulfield, part Ishmael, Little Leaguer, Marshall Elliot's voice will long be remembered." -- Cynthia Stone, Best-selling Amazon AuthorI very much enjoyed this book. I found myself looking up baseball stats from Hank Greenberg to Barry Bonds and believe me, I'd never done that before. Thank you Lara Reznik for a fun read. - Barbara Gaines, Executive Producer, The Late Show With David Letterman " Axa0troubled kid learns valuable lessons about love, honor and friendship during the home-run race of 1961. Marshall Elliot's made the All-star team; caught the eye of the prettiest girl in town; and his new neighbors are Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, the Yankees duo competing to beat Babe Ruth's home run record. . .Thexa0closing sequence tear-jerkingly fulfills the wishes of every kid who's ever had a hero, xa0played a sport, had a crush or fought with a parent. L ike the best of the genre, there's a baseball-as-metaphor-for-life theme here to which few readers will be immune. "xa0-- Kirkus Review This book is dedicated to my father William Resnick, my beloved hero and Pop. Family man first, NYC fireman, WW II veteran, and a devoted Yankee fan from the time of Babe Ruth to the end. xa0 In September of 2011, hours before he died, the hospice doctor came to check on my father at home in bed. "Mr. Resnick, how are you feeling?" he asked. My Pop responded, "I'd feel a lot better if the Yankees had made the playoffs." Lara Reznik grew up on Long Island in the fifties and sixties, attending many Yankee games with her father and Uncle Sol during her childhood. At ten years old, she saw Roger Maris hit his sixty-first home run. Read more
Features & Highlights
- A tender tale of coming-of-age meets baseball heroes! In the summer of 1961 a Little League player’s joy of making the All-Star team evaporates when his father, too busy with a girlfriend, misses his triumphant opening game and his mother spirals into a bed-ridden depression. Then, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle move next door as they battle to break Babe Ruth's home run record. The three find solace in each other's triumphs, frustrations, celebrations and disappointments.Based on historical facts, The M&M Boys explores the parallel lives of an embittered Maris and a self-destructive Mantle who live together incognito in a remote Queens apartment. Maris, a misplaced Midwesterner, gets booed by the Yankee fans who prefer Mantle, and the press pursue him mercilessly. Mantle, on the other hand, basks in New York fans approval, but a series of injuries destroy his hope of winning the competition. Marshall's friendship unearths childhood memories for both men.
