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Title: Cliche-free sports literature
Review: A pitcher is the player on the diamond with the most control over the outcome of the game. As the old axiom goes, Good pitching beats good hitting. But you won't find such cliches in Dean Hughes's excellent novel for readers ages 9-12, Team Picture. The hero is a young orphan who learns that, on the field, one cannot strike out all twenty-seven batters; even the best pitchers need help from the fielders behind them. In life, too, David Lambert learns that for socialization, even mental health, he must relinquish control, let himself be vulnerable.Carefully avoiding cliches of plot--you won't find in this book any grand slams in the bottom of the ninth--and language--no "the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife"--Hughes has written an authentic and poignant book.
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