Safe at Home: By Mike Lupica
Short Summary
• 13 year old Nick Crandall plays catcher for
Hayworth school. He is moving up from JV to
Varsity to take the place of the injured Varsity
Catcher Bobby Mazzilli. Nick did awesome at JV,
But poor in Varsity. The players teased him, and
they bullied him. But his Coach, coach Williams,
always cheered him up. He also had a good friend
named Grace that helped him with a lot of
problems.. These two hang out a lot. Want to
know more about the story? Read Safe at Home
by Mike Lupica to find out.
1
When Nick was about 3 years old, he got
adopted, then at age 11, Nick got adopted again.
His favorite thing to do was playing baseball.
When Bobby Mazzilli broke his wrist and hand,
there was no choice but to bring up Nick from
JV. This is the first time in school history that a
7th grader played varsity baseball. He does not
feel like he belongs on Varsity and wants to go
back to JV.
2
• Nick loved to go to Major League Baseball
games. His favorite baseball team is the New
York Mets. Going to a Mets game was one of
his favorite things to do. Nick also had some
friends, but not to many. One of his friends
was named Grace. And they both hang out the
most. Nick playing baseball at Varsity level
didn’t look to good.
3
• Nick and Coach Williams sometimes had some
extra practice after normal ones with the
team. This made Nick a lot better. There
biggest rival in baseball, Hayworth vs. King,
was coming up. This is the biggest rivalry in
the city and every time they play, there is no
room in the bleachers and there are not any
spots to put chairs in. That’s how crowded
that rivalry game is.
4
• During the game nick got a couple base hits. In
the bottom of the seventh, Hayworth was
winning 4-3. They have a guy on first, he
attempts to steal, and Nick threw him out at
second base!! Hayworth won the game and
Nick got congratulated. He even got
congratulated by the other teams best player,
Zane Diaz.
E: Letter to Author
Dear, Mr. Lupica
I loved your book Safe at Home, but I have a
few questions. How did you get involved with
children's book writing? And how did you come
up with your ideas with the story?
Thanks, David Benedetto