Painting the Game — Patricia MacLachlan

In this final middle grade novel by Newbery Awardâ€"winning author Patricia MacLachlan, a young girl tries to untangle her love of baseball from her complicated relationship with her professional pitcher father.

Lucy's father is a minor league baseball player, a professional pitcher hoping to get called up to the majors, and Lucy inherited his passion for the game. But she's never played pitcher. She worries her skills would be compared to her dad's and she'd never measure up. And his pitching may mean big things for his career and their family, but it's also what keeps him away from home so much of the year. Sometimes, Lucy isn't sure what would be worse: being bad at pitching or being great.

Still, this summer, Lucy wants to learn to throw the perfect knuckleball. She wakes up at the crack of dawn to practice in secret, without her friends Tex and Robin -- or even the goats who watch them play. Even as she trains relentlessly, Lucy wonders if she'll ever feel brave enough to share her progress with her mom or dad. Can she prove to them, and herself, that she has what it takes?