Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 02/15/2024 Eleven-year-old Lucy Chance adores both her parents: Mom, a painter, and Dad, a minor league baseball pitcher. Lucy spends her summer playing for her school's baseball team (the Yard Goats, named for the goats that live next to the diamond) and secretly developing her own pitching skills, particularly the very tricky knuckleball. When Dad is invited to join the Red Sox, Lucy is offered the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at his first major league game, and she wonders if she is up to the challenge. This final middle-grade novel from the late, Newbery-winning author MacLachlan offers her signature lyric language delivered in spare but satisfying prose. Lucy and the other characters (particularly Dad's catcher-partner, Edgar, and his talented dog, Ruby) are well-developed and complex, and information about the psychology behind baseball strategy is deftly woven into the narrative. Although there's not much conflict beyond the well-meant secrets that Lucy and her family keep from one another, this will appeal to baseball fans and those looking for warm family dynamics. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.