Painting the Game (Hardcover)
Staff Reviews
Lucy Chance’s father is a minor league baseball pitcher trying to reach the majors. He throws a knuckleball, the odd, floating, diving pitch that only a handful of major leaguers have ever used successfully. Lucy’s mother paints beautiful pictures, sometimes of the players who create the drama on the field. They all “paint the game.” As for Lucy, she and her friends play baseball, but pitching is her dad’s thing. Being up on that mound is maybe too scary. She’s working on courage. I’ve been around baseball most of my life, and this is a good baseball story. It’s full of the game’s wisdom, history, and charming, funny quotes from people you may recognize. It’s also a great family story; another MacLachlan masterpiece that’s easy to love, perfect for fourth or fifth graders. And it has goats!
— Tim McCarthyDescription
In this final middle grade novel by Newbery Award-winning author Patricia MacLachlan, a young girl tries to untangle her love of baseball from complicated relationship with her professional pitcher father.
Lucy’s father is a minor league baseball player, a professional pitcher hoping to get called up to the majors, and Lucy inherited his passion for the game. But she’s never played pitcher. She worries her skills would be compared to her dad’s and she’d never measure up. And his pitching may mean big things for his career and their family, but it’s also what keeps him away from home so much of the year. Sometimes, Lucy isn’t sure what would be worse: being bad at pitching or being great.
Still, this summer, Lucy wants to learn to throw the perfect knuckleball. She wakes up at the crack of dawn to practice in secret, without her friends Tex and Robin—or even the goats who watch them play. Even as she trains relentlessly, Lucy wonders if she’ll ever feel brave enough to share her progress with her mom or dad. Can she prove to them, and herself, that she has what it takes?
About the Author
Patricia MacLachlan (1938–2022) was the author of many well-loved novels and picture books, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal; its sequels, Skylark and Caleb’s Story; Edward’s Eyes; The True Gift; Waiting for the Magic; White Fur Flying; Fly Away; and Snow Horses. She lived in western Massachusetts.
