The Outlaw League

Lisa Arsenault is a public-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

This is a delightful story about an adolescents’ baseball team in the
Maritimes. The members are an oddly assorted group of individuals drawn
together by their love for the game. They have played in their
neighborhood ballpark for years, but when the Town suddenly imposes
restrictions on its use and attempts to regulate the various teams,
Nicky, the team manager, realizes that most of his players won’t
qualify for registration under the new rules and that he must stand up
to the Town Council. He resolves the situation and the Outlaws can
continue to play ball as they have always done.

Twelve-year-old Nicky narrates the story. The author has an unerring
instinct and feel for the way that adolescents think and express
themselves; his use of the first person, along with the use of the
present tense, lends vitality and spontaneity to the work. The
characters are fully developed and believable, and there is a timely
subplot outlining the gradual development of the star pitcher’s
beliefs away from misogynistic prejudice as he plays daily with the new
female member of the team.

Young readers who enjoy the game of baseball will very much enjoy this
novel.