Roasted Peanuts
Kindergarten-Grade 3 Jackson the cat and Sam the horse share a love of baseball, both watching and playing the game. Sam is a natural athlete, but Jackson is one of the slowest cats ever seen. Still, Sam encourages his buddy in his one skill throwing. When tryouts for the local team come around, Sam easily makes it, but Jackson doesn't. Perhaps even worse, the feline's self-pity threatens Sam's happiness, and his performance. In the end, Jackson finds a way to use his talent in the stadium, supports his pal, and becomes a legend in his own right. More than a tale about baseball, this story is about the nature of true friendship, and about the ability to be happy about someone else's accomplishments. Egan's typically droll animal characters express emotions well. However, the ink-and-watercolor illustrations have a static quality that doesn't convey the movement of the game. Still, the understated humor of the text lightens the message and makes the story more appealing as when the animal crowd yells at Sam, Go back to the farm! Baseball fanatics or not, most children will enjoy this charming tale.Robin L. Gibson, Granville Parent Cooperative Preschool, OHCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.