PECORINO PLAYS BALL

Having attended his First Concert (2005), young Pecorino Sasquatch now moves on to Little League, where, drowning in an outsized jersey and with the threats of massive Coach Credenza ringing in his ears, he struggles to at least look like he has a clue about how to play. But not only has he never hit or caught a ball, he doesn’t even have bubble gum to “burble,” like everyone else on the field does. Happily, that last problem is solved by a gift left in distant right field by Pecorino’s (almost) equally clueless opposite number—and thanks to that gooey glob, he’s even able to make a spectacular, game-ending catch. Popeyed, wiener-nosed figures in Cantone’s scribbly mixed-media pictures impart a properly goofy air, and also reflect Madison’s delight in jokes and silly words, with which he’s liberally salted his tale. Read this aloud, and set children, athletically gifted or otherwise, to laughing. (Picture book. 6-8)