Mick Cochrane

Well written story of how a girl buck the odds and keeps her father's memory alive by using the knuckleball he taught her to become a pitcher on the school baseball team. Aided by her super smart best friend and the quiet boy, Lonnie, who becomes her personal catcher, she finds the strength to let go of lingering grief over her father's unexpected death, as well as the chauvinistic attitude of some team mates. I really like the characters and the way this story ends.

This book follows the struggles of a girl named Molly who just lost her father and feels distant in her relationship with her mother. To overcome this, she decided to join her 8th grade baseball team, which only has boys, after her father taught her to throw a knuckleball. This is a fantastic read for middle school and high school students as the emotional complexities of loss are explored here as well as themes of perseverance and grit that will serve them well as they develop into adults.

Interesting how the book begins with the person causing the sexual abuse and then becomes more about the members of his family. Amazing how little Hal really cared about what he had done to his victims and his family - his thinking was all about him and the inconvenience it caused in his life. Wife Phyllis was a person I could not respect even though she grew and changed by the end of the book.