Last modified: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:22 AM EDT HICKMAN: These books knock it out of the park Until a few weeks ago, the one and only base ball book I ever read (and thoroughly enjoyed) was Doris Kearns Goodwin's `` Wait Till Next Year.'' That's undoubtedly because the book was less about baseball than about Goodwin's relationship with her father, a bond that developed as they shared the excitement and travails of the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers. The closest I ever came to a baseball bond with my father was during Saturday afternoon televised games of the Cleve land Indians in my Ohio living room. From his prone position on the couch behind home plate, Dad would signal me that I had been selected to bring him a beer. I would trot to the basement, return with a P.O.C. (Pride of Cleveland), (`` Don't pour it, Kathy, just bring me the glass'' ) and most often, he would then `` watch'' the interminable game with a long, slow snore. How much fun was that? When I moved to Massa chusetts at 21, I detected a fervor and fanaticism about baseball I did not understand. Baseball as exciting? Its monotonous drone and dirgelike pace seemed soporific to me. Baseball as a `` metaphor for life?'' What did that mean? The hot dogs were enticing, but what were those cheers and jeers and arcane rituals all about? You can imagine my hesita tion, therefore, when my hus band suggested I review a baseball book or two. Could I find something fun? Invigorat ing? I wanted a story that would help me appreciate the true spirit of the game, something that celebrated the hard-won guts and glory that seemed to characterize baseball when Goodwin was growing up, a time when baseball was less about scandal and steroids and more about genuine pas sion for the game, on both sides of the dugout. My search yielded two books that I can enthusiasti cally recommend. The first is `` The Boy Who Saved Base ball'' by John H. Ritter, writ ten for 9- to 12-year-olds, but a real `` find'' for any age. The second is a literary feast of baseball essays, `` The Red Sox Reader,'' edited by Dan Riley. In Ritter's book, a series of unfortunate events has pitted the scraggly Dillontown Wild cats against a big real-estate developer in an epic battle to save their ball field, and in the bargain, Dillontown itself. Doc Altenheimer won't sell the Lucky Strike Park if the team of 12-year-olds can miraculously win their final game against their far better rivals, the Lake View Vikings. It looks impossible without divine intervention, or a little more heart. In true tall-tale fashion, a young stranger, 12-year-old Cruz de la Cruz, rides his horse `` through the dust of a swirling wind'' into Dillontown just days before the big game, armed with the `` secret'' of hitting, and eager to join the team. The plot thickens when Cruz and young Tom Gallagher risk life and limb to roust the reclusive World Series hero-turned-deserter, Dante Del Gato, up on Rattlesnake Ridge. Del Gato just might be able to help. But he, too, has a secret. Weaving strands of Western lore, magic realism and myth with contemporary brain research and computer gamesmanship, the book is more sophisticated than its surface narrative might suggest. Ritter is obviously passionate about the life-numbing impact of urban sprawl, and often celebrates the natural landscape and mysterious messages of the western wind in a lyrical and dreamy prose -- not always credible as the dialogue of a 12-year-old, but interesting nevertheless. `` The Boy Who Saved Baseball'' is replete with colorful characters, Mexican slang and rich details describing the food, customs and terrain of this small community on the Southern California-Mexican border. Already a team in spirit, the Wildcats will learn what it means not to give up. `` The Red Sox Reader'' is good fun and good literature. (I never realized that an author could wax poetic about Ted Williams's spit). Doris Kearns Goodwin is here, along with John Updike, Stephen King, David Halberstam, Roger Angell, George Will, Dan Shaughnessy, and Red Smith. These writers and many others capture the rapture, the drama, myth and mystique of the players, the park, the history and the hopes of Red Sox Fans everywhere. `` The Red Sox Reader'' is perfect for guest room or bathroom leisure moments. `` The Boy Who Saved Baseball'' is a great summer read for the family. And my sources at Where The Sidewalk Ends in Chatham also suggest a new book for 9- to 12-year-olds called `` Heat'' by Mile Lupica,. It's about a young Cuban-born pitcher who dreams of making it to the Little League series, but faces serious difficulties when challenged by a rival to prove his age. Rumor has it this book will be turned into a movie. But I'll definitely be reading and feeling the `` Heat'' with my own Fenway Frank long before that. KATHY HICKMAN is the former coordinator of Campaign READ in Attleboro. You can contact her at news(at)(at)thesunchronicle.com.