Bats About Baseball

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.

Young Ryder’s grandmother is obsessed with baseball. When she comes
over to babysit, she plops herself in front of the television and is
oblivious to everything around her except the baseball game. Or is she?
Every time Ryder attempts to engage his grandmother in conversation, she
manages to turn the conversation into a statement about baseball. The
result is a score sheet of the worst baseball puns you are likely ever
to see assembled in one lineup.

“Nana,” Ryder says, “I could be an astronaut like Cousin
Stella.”

“By Jupiter!” Grandma replies, “Casey just launched a moon shot
right into the Sky Deck.”

Judging by some of Ryder’s other relatives, his grandmother is not
the only nut in the family tree. He has a chiropractor uncle named
Bonapart, a chicken-farmer aunt named Henriette, and a deep-sea diving
friend named Marlin. Grandma has a quick comeback for every one of them.

This fun book challenges the myth that grandmas only bake cookies.
Ryder and his nana have an interactive relationship that will run to
extra innings. Highly recommended.