Little Treasure: A Safe and Happy Read

In the great, big world of publishing, countless more books are written and printed and put out there than we ever really know. What we know is what we’re fed: The New York Tines Bestseller, Oprah’s Book Club pick, the Harry Potter world, the Twilight series and whatever the morning daytime shows are telling us to read and whatever ‘summer read’ a magazine tells us to pick up.

What gets lost in the shuffle and on the shelves are the big and small treasures that are written with care and with love; the stories we walk away from knowing a little more about something we didn’t know before. The ones we can share with friends and loved ones and never bat an eye about what is contained within its pages.

Before I read Safe at Home, written by Robert Skead, I knew very little about baseball and even less about Babe Ruth (except that he somehow contributed to building the old Yankee Stadium, without ever lifting a brick). Truth be told, I don’t seek out sport stories and I am not one to ever be found browsing in the sports section at the local Barnes & Noble. That is why this is a treasure: a book I never thought I would read, or pick up, but one I am glad to have been made aware of and to have read.

I knew little about the sport and love of baseball itself, its status as our American pastime and its history. I know that I grew up the daughter of a deeply devoted Mets fan and married a deeply devoted Yankees fan. Today I am a little of both, but more of a Yankees fan. In love and baseball, love is thicker than family.

Although this book is written for children and pre-teens, it is still an engaging read for anyone who enjoys a great story. For the record, Rob Skead works with me and I know for sure that engaging storytellers also make engaging conversationalists. Storytelling is art in words. Words are like brushes and paint. When they’re brought together, the outcome can be something quite beautiful.

Safe at Home tells the story of 11-year-old Trevor Mitchell, a young man who is given an invaluable gift from his great-grandfather: a 1915 Babe Ruth rookie card. Trevor’s great-grandfather gives him the card and a heck of a story with it. He claims to have played with The Babe and to be the only man in history to have stolen a base from him. Although Trevor, his great-grandfather and his dad do not know it at the time, the card is valued at $50,000.

When the card’s value is discovered, a sports writer latches on with both skepticism and interest. Once the reporter’s story gets out, things get out of hand pretty fast. Trevor runs into all sorts of situations. The card disappears. His friends mock his story and his great-grandfather. Before long, Trevor’s honesty, sense of right and wrong and allegiance to family are challenged. His problems come about with the envy of others, the trials of school playgrounds, friends and enemies and the turmoil of childhood. His decisions are based on his trust in his parents and great-grandfather, his loyalty to his loved ones, his upbringing and faith and his need to do the right thing.

Our culture has lost a lot of what still exists in Safe at Home. In most urbanized and some suburbanized places, love and family, faith and respect went out with saddle shoes and poodle skirts. Everywhere we turn, kids are bombarded with very adult themes, news, information and realities that are far beyond their years. With Safe at Home, a kid can be a kid just reading about another kid with kid problems and the lessons that we all have to learn and the ones we all hope to carry into adulthood.

Rob has written other children's books and in them you can always find the themes of love, faith and family woven in and told through the eyes and voice of a child. What a gift to be able to retain childlike wonder, interests and innocence and to be able to share it in book form with young readers!!

When I came to the end of this book, I had two thoughts: We could use more of what is in this story. What a beautifully sweet book. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I was made aware of a story I would otherwise never have read. Now I am paying it forward. I thought you should be made aware, too!