Freddy and the Blue Jays

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Twins Freddy and Freida both play for the same little-league baseball
team. But Freddy hates to practice: “I’m already a good enough
player,” he insists. One day, when the twins show up for practice at
the ball field, they are surprised to find the Toronto Blue Jays there
too. “Let’s go practice with them,” Freida suggests, but Freddy
still thinks he is too good to have to run drills like everybody else.
When the little-league coach talks the Blue Jays into an exhibition
game, Freddy is happy to play. But because he did not practice, he is
easily tagged out on his first turn at bat. Freddy throws down his hat
in frustration and stomps off the field to sulk. When no one even
notices that he’s gone, it finally dawns on him that he does need to
practice more and that winning is not everything.

The artwork in this book is quite lovely. The prose, on the other hand,
hustles so hard to make a point that its shortcomings become even more
obvious. The characters and plot are one-dimensional. Freddy is a
repulsive little brat and Freida is as sweet a marzipan cookie. From
page one, the plot is so predictable that the rest of the story becomes
as interesting as watching a seventh-inning stretch. Not a first-choice
purchase.