cover image Mice at Bat: Story and Pictures

Mice at Bat: Story and Pictures

Kelly Oechsli. HarperCollins Publishers, $11.95 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-06-024623-5

It doesn't look good for the visiting baseball team, the Mighty Mites, when the home team, the Boomers, brings in their ace-in-the-hole pinch hitter, Big Jax. He's a real rat. And since both teams are comprised of mice, Big Jax has a size and power advantage. He uses it to boost the Boomer's score to an 11-point lead. It's the first annual crosstown Big Game between the two teams, and it promisesand deliversreading excitement and fun for children first learning to read. The Mighty Mites manage to pull off the win in an ingenious manner, after the game's only bat is broken. The action is fast-paced, and Oechsli's three-color illustrations are as dizzy as his entertaining story. (48)