Keeping Score

Nine-year-old Maggie becomes fast friends with a firefighter named Jim when he teaches her how to keep score during baseball games. The system for tracking plays may be complicated, but Maggie loves how it succinctly captures her favorite sport. Then Jim is suddenly shipped off to the Korean War. The letters they send to each other help Maggie understand the unfamiliar, faraway life her friend now leads. When a tragic accident gives Jim severe depression, though, his letters stop coming. Maggie wonders if she can help Jim, though he seems so distant.