Triple Play!: Bullies Strike Out

Triple Play is a volume of three short stories featuring boys who struggle with bullies or overcoming in themselves the impulse to bully. In the first story, "A Real Team Player", Buddy ignores the rudeness some of his friends show toward a newcomer, Benny. All the boys hope to make the community's baseball team, but of the 35 boys going out for the team, only 20 would be selected. Buddy's friends warned him that befriending the newcomer might cost him a position on the team. Buddy decides to do the right thing, even if it cost him a place on the team. The second story, "A Real Kracker Jack", tells the story of a newcomer to the neighborhood who struggles to gain acceptance in spite of having a background that seems foreign to the other kids. They tease him because of his name and accent. He easily could fade into the background to escape the teasing, but instead, he hits upon the use of humor to put his tormentors in their place. His plan is a winner, and everyone profits from his good example. The third story, "Tommy's Terror: The Dragon's Teeth", tells how a rude little bully gets his just reward in the aftermath of pigging out on Halloween candy. His uncomfortable body and the resulting nightmare set him up for a transformation. If all that were not enough, he is facing a dental appointment the next morning. First, however, he must deal with the threatening appearance of a fire-breathing dragon outside his window who threatens to eat him alive!