Painting the Game

By: Patricia MacLachlan

Narrated by: Lillie Ricciardi

In this middle grade novel by Newbery Award–winning author Patricia MacLachlan in her “signature lyric language delivered in spare but satisfying prose” (Booklist), a young girl tries to untangle her love of baseball from her complicated relationship with her professional pitcher father.

Lucy’s father is a minor league baseball player, a professional pitcher hoping to get called up to the majors, and Lucy inherited his passion for the game. But she’s never played pitcher. She worries her skills would be compared to her dad’s and she’d never measure up. And his pitching may mean big things for his career and their family, but it’s also what keeps him away from home so much of the year. Sometimes, Lucy isn’t sure what would be worse: being bad at pitching or being great.

Still, this summer, Lucy wants to learn to throw the perfect knuckleball. She wakes up at the crack of dawn to practice in secret, without her friends Tex and Robin—or even the goats who watch them play. Even as she trains relentlessly, Lucy wonders if she’ll ever feel brave enough to share her progress with her mom or dad. Can she prove to them, and herself, that she has what it takes?

Great Heartwarming Book

My daughter read this book and told me that I had to read it. I haven't had time to sit down and read, so thankful to have found it here. Our family loves painting, baseball, and goats and this book has all three! This book was wonderful from the first paragraph to the end! All of the main characters just felt like one big family. The goats and Ruby, the dog, added extra entertainment to the story. There are so many wonderful things loaded into this short book. Best young readers book that I have read in a while. I highly recommend this book!