The Thing Lenny Loves Most About Baseball

What is the difference between a champion athlete and the average player in your park’s baseball diamond? Persistence, argues Larsen, in the latest from Canada’s own consistent picture book MVP. Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron were all-time star players, and yet, they struck out more often than they hit home runs. The valuable lesson for Lenny, the book’s would-be star protagonist, is that the greatest weren’t great all the time—and neither is he.

Lenny loves baseball for its room for errors. He also loves it because it can go on forever in extra innings, and he loves reading about the stats in his Big Book of Baseball Facts. A true academic, Lenny loves the theory but is scared in practice. Dodging the ball instead of catching it, Lenny learns to break through the fear that even the greats have bad days. By practicing, striving, and perspiring, young readers will be inspired to take it one day at a time on the field of life with Pavlovic’s inviting illustrations in this clever twist on the typical sports inspired picture book. Larsen has hit a home run with baseball fans.