"The Rhino in Right Field" by Stacy Dekeyser

If you like baseball, or just a good laugh, I have a book for you.

It’s 1948, and twelve-year-old Nick wants one thing: to be the batboy for his town’s baseball team. There’s a contest, and he’d love to win it. But the contest is on a Saturday, when he’s supposed to work in his father’s shop, and Nick’s hard-working immigrant parents aren’t going to make that easy.

Then there’s the other problem. Nick and his friends play ball at the city zoo, and the right field fence is right next to the pen of Tank, a 2,000-pound rhinoceros. When a fly ball goes his way, Nick freezes. It’s a tough thing for a ballplayer to admit.

This one is funny from the first page, and it’s good for fans of “The Sandlot.” It won a Bank Street Book of the Year award.

This hardcover is in good condition, and you can find it at Dead Tree Dreams.