Touching All the Bases: Baseball for Kids of All Ages

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

Most importantly, this is not a baseball instruction manual. Rather, it
is packed full of facts, stories, scandals, statistics, and trivia about
the game. Information on every facet of baseball, from its inception to
its present form, is included. Some details are very technical; for
example, a cross-section diagram of a baseball is minutely labeled, from
the 118 stitches on its exterior, to its several layers, right through
to its cork nucleus. Less technically inclined buffs will enjoy the
wonderful anecdotes about famous players and famous games. There’s
also information about baseball sportscasters and the role of the media,
the derivation of rules and customs, and fan clubs and baseball cards.
The author does indeed “touch all the bases.”

One of the many positive aspects of this book is that the wealth of
information is not presented in a patchy, disjointed fashion; rather,
one topic flows naturally into the next. The style is compelling: the
author is funny, witty, informed, and passionate about her subject.
Nothing she writes is dull—even the most technical aspects are of
interest because of the way she writes about them.

This is a must-read for all baseball fans and for those parents of fans
who have trouble understanding why their children love the game. Highly
recommended.