Clorinda Plays Baseball!

In her third comedic outing, Clorinda the cow dreams of joining her favorite baseball team—the Red Hats of Bosstown. But practice comes first. Clorinda and her “piggest” fan, Hop, construct a makeshift baseball field and grandstand, but when a shy boy named Deke steps up to the mound, Clorinda realizes that he’s the real star player. Deke gets signed by the Red Hats (Clorinda thinks sadly, “But... that was my dream”), but his nerves won’t allow him to play without his coach, Clorinda, who helps the team to a World Series win when a freak dust storm sets in. As in the previous Clorinda books, Kinerk’s couplets are buoyant (“One day he knocked/ such a powerful fly,/ it bounced off a copter/ just then whumping by”), and his plotting is over-the-top; Kellogg’s characteristically expressive, gold-infused illustrations have no trouble keeping pace. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)