The Story behind the Story

The Music behind the Story

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Discussion Questions for
Under the Baseball Moon

1. In the early part of the story, Andy cruises the streets of Ocean Beach on his skateboard, turning the rhythms he hears into riffs on his trumpet. Reread that section for inspiration, and then as you go through your own day, listen for the rhythmic patterns in the sounds around you, beats that can be tapped out, or hummed as a short melodic phrase. Share some of these with the group. You might even want to try combining them all together into a fusion-style musical piece.

2. This book is rich in "tongue-in-cheek overspeak" as Ritter plays with the rhyming, punning language of young California surfer-town musicians. A particularly sly pun is the name of the bar-owner OB Juan Quixote (hint: pronounced key-hoh-tee). Spot some other puns and amusing expressions and explain their origins. Rhyme within a sentence is a characteristic of hip-hop and rap that shows up in Andy's speech on nearly every page. Point out some of your favorites. Andy is proud of himself for getting good at Glory's baseball talk, like DH for "designated hitter." What are some of his "music talk" terms that she might not understand?

3. Long ago, Andy's parents "decided to back off from the stress and strain of life in order to be happier." Andy, on the other hand, wants to reach the top, to play his new brand of music as a world-class trumpeter. Which is better? Can a person have both? What differing bits of advice do the various wise people in the book (Olivia Olivetti, the Holy Jokester, Andy's grandfather, father, mother, and Max Lucero) give Andy about his goals? Which of them do you think are right?

4. Glory, too, is ambitious to reach the top. How does this goal make her happy? How does it make her unhappy? Andy says, "In a way we help each other reach a higher level." Is this mystic bond good for them? What are its drawbacks, and what must they learn to make room in their relationship for both of them to be excellent?

5. Who is Max Lucero in this story? What other stories about "selling your soul" does he remind you of? Does the kind of "success" he gives Andy always involve somebody else losing? What does his last name mean in Spanish? How does this connect with the idea of the baseball moon as a new beginning?