Thumb on a Diamond — Ken Roberts

A Horn Book Fanfare Top Ten List selection and an SSLI Honor Book

Thumb and Susan come up with an ingenious plan that will take all of the village's nine school-aged kids on the trip of a lifetime. They'll form a baseball team, win the regional title and qualify to be sent to the provincial championships in Vancouver, courtesy of the school board.

Never mind that none of them has ever played baseball before. Never mind that there are no other teams to compete for the regional championship. Never mind that the village is not even wide enough to accommodate a baseball diamond.

With a lot of ingenuity and a little grownup help, including the advice of a shipwrecked British children's writer-cum-cricket-expert named Mr. Entwhistle, the New Auckland Beavers go into training and start packing their bags. But what will happen when they get to Vancouver? Will they be humiliated by the toughest teams in the province?