Chin Music.

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Baseball fans will recognize “chin music” as a synonym for a pitch deliberately thrown to pass close to a batter’s jaw, its intent being to intimidate the batter who then has three choices: become unnerved and back off the plate; shrug it off and get ready for the next pitch; or allow him/herself to be hit by the ball and be awarded first base. Brook Gunderson, a 15-year-old grade 10 student in Lethbridge, AB, literally and figuratively faces chin music while playing his first year of high school baseball. Tall, skinny, and “cursed” by his androgynous given name, Brook possesses a wicked fastball, but Brook’s joining his chubby best friend and teammate, “Jiggle-Me” Jason Parker, in playing a trick on Coach Kobrinsky leads to Brook’s being benched until the season’s fourth game. During Brook’s pitching debut, he establishes a league single game record for strikeouts, and it appears the team could contend for the provincial title. Everything changes, though, when Brook accidentally severely injures his pitching arm. Faced with two years of rehab before having any hope of regaining the velocity on his fastball, Brook sees his aspirations of playing college ball and perhaps having a professional career disappearing. Reading an article about a pitcher who throws a knuckleball provides Brook with renewed hope and the determination to master this slow, but hard-to-hit, pitch. Filled with truly juvenile hijinks and humour, Chin Music should not be dismissed as simply being just another stereotypical boys sports book as its contents explore a number of issues external to baseball. Recommended.