Knuckleball Ned

PreS-Gr 1—Cy Young Award winner Dickey is a starting pitcher for the Toronto Bluejays and the only pitcher to use the knuckleball (a ball with minimum spin that causes an unpredictable motion) as his primary pitch. In his picture-book debut, Dickey has Ned, an anthropomorphized baseball, nervously pondering his first day as school—as it turns out, with good reason. Wobbly from birth, he bumps into everyone as he makes his way down the school bus's aisle and angers the Foul Ball Gang when he comes to the defense of his large friend, Sammy the Softball. To make matters worse, all the other balls—fast balls, curve balls, sliders, etc.—know who they are, and Ned does not. Eventually, Ned's wobbling saves the day when the Foul Ball Gang plays a nasty prank on Connie Curveball, and he comes to the realization that he is not a knucklehead but, rather, Knuckleball Ned. The clear, lively writing and nice pacing make this a good addition to the canon of antibullying books that make their point without being message driven. Bowers adds to the fun by individualizing the many balls, no mean trick when the head shapes must be identical. His cartoon acrylic paint illustrations effectively capture Ned's wobbliness and make the pages come alive with motion.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ