SONGS FOR THE OFFSEASON

On the cusp of his senior year, one high school boy spends a summer both mourning and honoring life and, in the process, discovering new facets of himself.

One day, Dustin is planning to spend an epic summer in Japan with his baseball team, playing the sport he loves more than anything. The next, he’s at the funeral of his 20-year-old cousin, a college baseball player with an undetected heart condition. There, Dustin meets Andrea, and despite his negative first impressions, they grow close. In the coming months, Dustin and Andrea attend several more funerals together, leaning on one another as they navigate the deceased people’s different ends. A constant undercurrent in this story of loss is how Dustin’s life as a baseball player and the culture of the sport influence the way he engages with the world. This verse novel for reluctant readers doubles as a love letter to baseball—a game that, like life and death, connects people. The beauty in Wolf’s word choices and in his poems’ line breaks creates an emotional tone that beckons to readers, inviting them to reflect on their own mortality and place in the world. Song titles make up the titles of the poems, inviting readers on a musical journey. Major characters present white.

A lyrical and sweet coming-of-age story.