The Toilet Paper Tigers
Gordon KormanISBN 9780590462310
ISBN 9780590462303
I have read over 50 volumes from the masterful pen of Gordon Korman. My son who is 16 still loves his books, my daughter in 13 picks and chooses, I am trying to work my way through his complete catalogue, in my 50’s. I have tracked down copies of all of them, and this was by far the hardest to lay my hands on, at a price point in my budget. It was well worth the wait.
Most of the titles by Korman I have read, I read over the last 6 year. I had read a few back in 2009 when the 39 Clues first came out. I do not recall reading any when I was young, but with my dual form of dyslexia I did not read many Children’s or Middle Grade books. It was only later I learned to really read.
My son and I started reading Gordon Korman books together five years ago, when he was given one as an end of year gift by his teacher. She gave the whole class the same Scholastic edition and wrote a note to each student in their copy of the book.
When reading Korman books; some he reads to me, some we use adaptive technology and listen to in the car, and some I just read on my own. This one I read on my own, while on holidays.
The description of this book states:
“Forget about winning, they're just trying to score!
Corey Johnson never dreamed Little League could be so humiliating. But that was before he joined the Feather Soft Tigers.
It's bad enough that the team uniforms have pictures of toilet paper on them-thanks to their sponsor. But with a catcher who's afraid of the ball, a right fielder who falls asleep during the games, and a coach who knows zero about baseball, it looks like the Tigers are going straight down the toilet!.”
According to Goodreads at the time of writing this review there are 9 editions of this volume, most published in 1993 or 1995. At some point it went through a cover change and there only appears to be 2 variations of covers for this book. Like a number of his other out of print volumes it is a really good read. It was a lot of fun. In some ways it feels like it could easily be an off shoot story for Bruno and Boots or the McDonald Hall series. A new girl in town, granddaughter of a famous scientist, a hap hazard little league team. And a summer of adventure.
The Toilet Paper Tigers were the dregs of the little league, their coach forgot it was the day to pick teams and the 9 players left ended up on his team. Unfortunately Professor Pendergast does not know anything about baseball, coaching or to be honest sports in general. He signed up because he granddaughter is coming to town and he wanted to know youngsters to introduce her to. It was not a good beginning to the summer or to the team. His granddaughter, Kristy, was a force of nature. And soon she was running the lives both on and off the field of the whole team. But just maybe there was method to her madness for soon they start scoring runs, then even winning games. But to find out what happens you will need to read this great story.
This is a really fun story and it is one I can easily recommend. A great Middle Grade read from Korman!
Books by Gordon Korman:
MacDonald Hall Series:
Go Jump in the Pool (1979)
Beware the Fish! (1980)
The Wizzle War (1982)
(formerly The War With Mr. Wizzle)
The Zucchini Warriors (1988)
Light’s Camera, Disaster (1991)
(aka Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood)
The Jokes on Us (1995)
(formerly Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall)
…
Bugs Potter Series:
Who is Bugs Potter? (1980)
…
Jeremy Bloom Series:
The D−Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1992)
The Last-Place Sports Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1996)
…
Monday Night Football Series:
The Quarterback Exchange (1997)
Running Back Conversion (1997)
Super Bowl Switch (1997)
Heavy Artillery (1997)
Ultimate Scoring Machine (1998)
NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)
…
Masterminds Series:
Masterminds (2015)
Masterminds: Payback (2017)
…
Slapshots Series:
The Stars From Mars (1999)
All-Mars All-Stars/The Dream Team (1999)
The Face-off Phony (2000)
Cup Crazy (2000)
Ouch I got slapped (2023)
…
4-in-1 Slapshots: The Complete Collection (2008)
…
Nose Pickers Series:
Nose Pickers from Outer Space! (1999)
Planet of the Nose Pickers (2000)
Your Mummy Is a Nose Picker (2000)
Invasion of the Nose Pickers (2001)
…
4-in-1 The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)
…
Island Series:
Shipwreck (2001)
Survival (2001)
Escape (2001)
…
3-in-1 Island Trilogy Collection (2006)
…
Son of the Mob Series:
Son of the Mob (2002)
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle (2004)
…
Everest Series:
The Contest (2002)
The Climb (2002)
The Summit (2002)
…
Everest Trilogy Box Set (2002)
Dive Series:
The Discovery (2003)
The Deep (2003)
The Danger (2003)
…
On the Run Series:
Chasing the Falconers (2005)
The Fugitive Factor (2005)
The Stowaway Solution (2005)
Public Enemies (2005)
Hunting the Hunter (2006)
…
Kidnapped Series:
The Abduction (2006)
The Search (2006)
The Rescue (2006)
…
Swindle Series:
Swindle (2008)
Zoobreak (2009)
Framed (2010)
Showoff (2012)
Hideout (2013)
Jackpot (2014)
Unleashed (2015)
Jingle (2016)
…
Titanic Series:
Unsinkable (2011)
Collision Course (2011)
S.O.S (2011)
…
The 39 Clues Series:
One False Note (2008)
The Emperor's Code (2010)
Vespers Rising (2011)
The Medusa Plot (2011)
Flashpoint (2014)
…
Hypnotists Series:
The Hypnotists (2013)
Memory Maze (2014)
The Dragonfly Effect (2015)
…
Ungifted Series:
Ungifted (2012)
Supergifted (2018)
…
Slacker Series:
...
Non Series Books:
I Want to Go Home! (1981)
Our Man Weston (1982)
No Coins, Please (1984)
Don't Care High (1985)
Son of Interflux (1986)
Radio 5th Grade (1989)
Losing Joe's Place (1990)
The Twinkie Squad (1992)
The Toilet Paper Tigers (1993)
The Chicken Doesn't Skate (1996)
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire (1997)
No More Dead Dogs (2000)
Maxx Comedy: The Funniest Kid in America (2003)
Jake, Reinvented (2003)
Born To Rock (2006)
Schooled (2007)
The Juvie Three (2008)
Pop (2009)
Restart (2017)
What's His Face? (2018)
The Unteachables (2019)
Notorious (2019)
War Stories (2020)
Game On (contains The Chicken Doesn’t Skate and The Toilet Paper Tigers (2021)
Unplugged (2021)
Linked (2021)
Operation Do-Over (2022)
The Fort (2022)
The Super Teacher Project (2023)
