This is an engaging baseball story with eigth-grader Molly as the heroine. The story is a crisply written novel that balances sports action with her internal struggles. Molly is coping with the recent loss of her father in a car accident and her emotionally distant mother is also trying to deal with this tragedy. Her father shared his love of baseball with Molly and taught her a special pitch--"the knuckleball" from an early age. He also passed along much of his philosophy of life and the story provides vivid and endearing flashbacks of their father-daughter bonding moments. There is a great supporting case of characters as Molly navigates the trials of middle school and also trying out for the boy's baseball team as a pitcher.
The story comes full circle as Molly endures some tense moments at the pitcher's mound, but as her father explained about a knuckleball being a pitch that floats like a butterfly..."You don't aim a butterfly. You release it." A recommended read for boys and girls grades 4-7!
Barb Farrell Swenson
Children's Librarian