New Releases by Steve Kluger

A contemporary American classic—a poignant and hilarious tale of baseball, hero worship, eccentric behavior, and unlikely friendship Last Days of Summer is the story of Joey Margolis, neighborhood punching bag, growing up goofy and mostly fatherless in Brooklyn in the early 1940s. A boy looking for a hero, Joey decides to latch on to Charlie Banks, the all-star third basemen for the New York Giants. But Joey's chosen champion doesn't exactly welcome the extreme attention of a persistent young fan with an overactive imagination. Then again, this strange, needy kid might be exactly what Banks needs.

“An engrossing, often laugh-out-loud tale of two unlikely lovers” told in an epistolary style “to brilliant comic and dramatic effect” (Publishers Weekly). A high school jock and nerd fall in love senior year, only to part after an amazing summer of discovery to attend their respective colleges. They keep in touch at first, but then slowly drift apart. Flash forward twenty years. Travis and Craig both have great lives, careers, and loves. But something is missing. . . . Travis is the first to figure it out. He’s still in love with Craig, and come what may, he’s going after the boy who captured his heart, even if it means forsaking his job, making a fool of himself, and entering the great unknown. Told in narrative, letters, checklists, and more, this is the must-read novel for anyone who’s wondered what ever happened to that first great love.

Best friends and unofficial brothers since they were six, ninth-graders T.C. and Augie have got the world figured out. But that all changes when both friends fall in love for the first time. Enter Al‚. She's pretty, sassy, and on her way to Harvard. T.C. falls hard, but Al‚ is playing hard to get. Meanwhile, Augie realizes that he's got a crush on a boy. It's not so clear to him, but to his family and friends, it's totally obvious! Told in alternating perspectives, this is the hilarious and touching story of their most excellent year, where these three friends discover love, themselves, and how a little magic and Mary Poppins can go a long way.

A guy puts everything on the line to find the love of his life--who got away 20 years ago--in this funny, touching, fast-paced novel.

Describes the relationship between a fatherless boy and the friendship he develops with his hero Charlie Banks, the third baseman for the New York Giants in the early 1940's.

Here is a comedy of manners set in the first class smoking lounge of the Titanic on the night she took fifteen hundred people into the depths. It highlights the nobility of those who chose for varying reasons to remain on board. Ida Straus could not let her beloved husband of thirty-nine years die alone. To John Jacob Astor the richest man in the world the self-sacrifice was a matter of etiquette. Discrimination played a part for those like Thomas Kilgannon an agricultural laborer from County Galway who was locked below in steerage with other immigrants until all of the lifeboats were full of first and second class passengers. Though some liberties are taken in bringing nine diverse personalities together on the night that most of them would perish their individual stories are accurate and have long since become legends if only to their own families.

Compiles reports, stories, cartoons, correspondence, and photographs from "Yank" magazine, published between 1942 and 1945 for soldiers in World War II

A collection of humorous misstatements, misuses of grammar, and confusing jargon selected from documents submitted by practicing lawyers

Thirty-six-year-old Scotty MacKay, a former Cy Young Award winner and left-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators, attempts a comeback--with the aid of his best friend and catcher, Buddy Budlong--by developing a curveball