Review (Book) - Clorinda Plays Baseball by Robert Kinerk

"Clorinda is a cow with big dreams and loving friends. With her friends Hop and Len, she practices from dawn till dusk in the hope that her day in the big leagues may come. Then Clorinda meets Deke, who also loves the game, and Clorinda finds that her calling is to make Deke a star. It isn't long before Deke signs with Bosstown, with Clorinda as his number-one fan. Hip-hip-hooray!
But when Deke gets to Bosstown, he can't find his spark without Coach Clorinda at his side. By the fastest way possible, the team sends for Clorinda. But the question remains, will Clorinda ever get to play?" (inside jacket cover)

Well, with an introduction like that, not much is left to be said about the book! Steven Kellogg's illustrations are a bit...softer (??? after taking two youth literature classes, you'd think I'd know by now how to better describe illustrations) than most of my preferred children's books, but they are still beautiful to look at. Robert Kinerk has written the accompanying story that that rhymes beautifully, though he does use a couple rather advanced words such as "deftly". I'm sad that Clorinda's dream of playing professional baseball was so short lived, but alas, such is life.

This book is meant for slightly older children, or just expect younger children to ask questions about the story and vocabulary. There are some great underlying themes throughout the book, including building up others and not being prejudiced towards anyone because of their "species...gender, or race" (p.28). Overall, this is a book I would enjoy trying to read with my own [hypothetical] children, even though I personally find baseball one of the most boring sports in existence. 

Amazon recommends this book for ages 4 and up.

My rating: