The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

Cochrane, Mick. 2009. The Girl Who Threw Butterflies. Random House. 177 pages.

On Monday, after band rehearsal and intramurals, when Molly got home from school, her mother was sitting at the kitchen table going through the day's mail.

Another book about baseball. And grief. Not that I have anything against grief. It's a trend that really never goes away. Perhaps because that's how life is. It's realistic for books to be sad. Molly, our narrator, is grieving for her father. So is Molly's mother, in her own little way. She's checked out--emotionally at least--from her life. Molly becomes almost invisible, a complete afterthought. I think Molly's mother just doesn't want to feel anything, and that means she's missing out on Molly...on what she wants, on what she needs. Molly is clinging to memories of her father, and that means she's clinging to baseball. A shared hobby for the two of them. They loved to play catch together. They loved to watch it together. Her father thought she was special. Thought her pitch was special. Her knuckleball that floated like a butterfly.

In The Girl Who Threw Butterflies, Molly tries out (and makes) the boy's baseball team. Can playing baseball heal her broken heart? Can it mend the pieces of her broken family? What can she learn from the game that will help her in life?

As I said, I have nothing against grief. I just don't care for baseball all that much. So I didn't really enjoy this one all that much.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers