Thumb on a Diamond

August 1, 2006
Gr 4-7 -An unlikely baseball story begins to unfold when Mr. G. H. Entwhistle -s rowboat makes it into a remote fishing village on the coast of British Columbia. A group of kids including the narrator, a boy best known as Thumb, take the Englishman to their town, population 138. It is then that the nine children come up with a plan for a school-sponsored visit to a big city. And Mr. Entwhistle, author and illustrator of the -Bobby and Bernice Beaver - books, assumes a role as unique as his outfit on the foggy day his boat came to the village. The kids realize that they have enough players for a baseball team. Although they -ve never played the game, they make creative decisions and preparations for the provincial championship in Vancouver, supported by Thumb -s father, the schoolmaster. The trip has surprising results while allowing the players to experience a big city, so different from their hometown, which has 42 buildings and no roads. Thumb -s voice is wise, allowing humor to arise from his observations of others and their responses to sights and events. The setting is both familiar and exotic; the children are geographically isolated but research baseball and more via the Internet. The characters are appealing and the plot unfolds naturally to create a satisfying and plausible story. Thumb, as an adult, no longer lives in New Auckland but returns with his children to view the trophy and carry on an old family baseball tradition." -Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2006
Gr. 3-5. The children of New Aukland, a tiny fishing village on the coast of British Columbia, want to experience big-city novelties such as elevators and streetlights for the first time. Taking advantage of a school funding loophole, they form a baseball team and enter a tournament that takes them to Vancouver. As the young narrator says, "This is not an ordinary baseball story." In fact, the children have never played the game, but that doesn't stop them from taking the field against more competitive adversaries. It's a hard-hearted reader who won't root for this unskilled but resourceful team, for whom the traditional "slaughter rule" is truly, as it is called in the text, a "mercy rule." The fishing village, an unusual setting full of distinctive characters, contrasts nicely with the kids' Vancouver experience. Illustrated with six full-page drawings, this unassuming story makes a very appealing chapter book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)