Well, let me tell ya about this book, “Derek Jeter: The Contract.” It ain’t no fancy-schmancy novel, ya hear? It’s more like a story for young’uns, you know, those middle-school kids. This Derek fella, he was a baseball player, a real good one they say. Folks seem to like him a whole lot.
Now, this book, it’s all about when Derek was a kid, see? It’s the first one in a whole bunch of books about him and baseball. They call it a “series,” like them TV shows that go on and on. This one’s called “The Contract,” and it ain’t about no grown-up business deals or nothin’ like that.
See, Derek, he loved playing baseball, even as a young’un. But his folks, they were smart. They told him, “Boy, you gotta keep them grades up, or no baseball for you!” So, they made him sign a contract, a promise, you know? Like, “I gotta do good in school if I wanna play ball.” That’s the whole gist of it.
- It’s about learnin’ responsibility, see? Like, you can’t just goof off all the time. You gotta work hard at everything, school and baseball both.
- It’s about bein’ a leader. Derek, he wasn’t just good at playin’, he was good at helpin’ his team too. He showed them how to do things right.
- And it’s about tryin’ your best, always. Whether it’s hittin’ a ball or takin’ a test, you gotta give it your all. That’s what Derek did, or so they say in the book.
This ain’t no lovey-dovey story, mind you. It’s about baseball and school and growin’ up. It’s got a good message, though, for them youngsters. Tells ‘em they gotta work hard and keep their promises. That’s important, you know? A man’s gotta keep his word, that’s what my old pappy used to say.
They say this book is real popular. Made it on some best seller list, whatever that means. Guess a lot of folks like readin’ about this Derek fella and how he learned to be a good baseball player and a good student, all at the same time. It’s a chapter book, not too long, not too short, just right for them kids who are startin’ to read bigger books.
This here “Contract,” it ain’t just one book, see? There’s a whole bunch of ’em. Seems like they wrote a whole mess of stories about Derek and his baseball adventures. “Hit or Miss,” “Change Up,” “Fair Ball,” they got all sorts of names. Like them soap operas on the TV, always somethin’ new happenin’. But this one, “The Contract,” that’s where it all starts. That’s the one that tells you how it all began, how Derek made that promise to his folks and how he stuck to it.
And lemme tell ya, they even got a whole box set of these books! Imagine that! A whole bunch of Derek Jeter books all together in one pretty box. Must be for folks who really, really like this fella and his baseball stories. They even got a “Turn 2 Foundation” or somethin’ like that tied to it. Sounds fancy, but I reckon it’s just about helpin’ kids, teachin’ ‘em about life and stuff, just like this book does. They say this Derek fella, he signed a big contract when he got older, a real big one for lots of money to play baseball. But this book, it’s about a different kind of contract, a promise a boy made to his folks. And that’s a good thing, a real good thing.
So, if you got young’uns, or grand young’uns, this “Derek Jeter: The Contract” might be a good book for ‘em. Teaches ‘em about workin’ hard, keepin’ promises, and playin’ a good game, both on the field and off. It ain’t gonna teach ‘em no rocket science, but it might just teach ‘em somethin’ important. And that’s more than you can say for some of them fancy books they got nowadays.
Tags: Derek Jeter, The Contract, Baseball, Middle Grade, Children’s Book, Sports, Responsibility, Leadership, Teamwork, Education, Jeter Publishing, Book Series
