Billy at Bat

Annette Lindsay was a special education teacher in Toronto.

Billy can do most things. The one thing he cannot do is hit a baseball. Every time he and his friends get together, Billy tries to guide their activities to anything other than baseball. Even his sister Emily can play better than he.

One evening after vainly practising his hitting, Billy meets the Coach for Special Cases, who promises to cast a spell that will enable him to hit the ball for a week. The spell works. Billy hits home runs for the first time in his life.

But Billy’s friend Roger still doubts his skill. He accuses Billy of being a chicken when he leaves the game to go home for dinner. The challenge will be a game the next day with the two rivals as team captains. Because of rain the next morning, the game is postponed. Billy is devastated. The spell will be over. Magically, the Coach for Special Cases reappears and persuades Billy that his skill has in fact developed through his own belief in himself. Of course, all ends well as Billy’s team wins the game.

The story will invite discussion of childhood feelings of rejection (all of us recall those mortifying moments of being chosen last for the team) and the notion of faith in oneself.

Mary McLoughlin’s illustrations are vivid and lively. Her Coach for Special Cases, with his Bermuda shorts and wild hair, is particularly appealing. Young readers will find the story thought-provoking; at the same time, it fills a need for fantasy and magic in everyday life.