Magic Bat Day

This is the story of a young boy and his first experiences while learning America’s national pastime, baseball. Magic Bat Day follows Nick, who is heading to his first real baseball practice after school. All day, he cannot wait for practice to start, while everything at school is reminding him of the great sport. Scorekeeping in baseball is just addition in chart form. When Nick finally gets to practice, the field looks magical. The coach will focus on batting, first introducing one of the greatest hitters, Babe Ruth. Before each child learns to hit, they must each pick their Magic Bat, the one that feels good in their hands. The coach shows Nick how to hold the bat, stand and focus on a spot on the ball. Nick follows the directions and hits the ball. Excitement, persistence, teamwork, and feeling of success are so important for a child learning a sport.

As a parents and an educator, I enjoyed Magic Bat Day. It was different than any other book I’ve read. Being a part of a series, it focuses only on the first day of practice and learning hitting. The thing I noticed on the first page, where the All-Stars are introduced, the members of the teams are boys and girls who represent various ethnicities. Magic Bat Day was interactive, with pages to find hidden baseballs, trivia questions, and a spot for autographs. My children enjoyed trying out the warm-up exercises that were detailed, as well as the trivia questions. I loved the tip for parents to help with cleanup after practice while the coach can focus on the kids. This is great for parents to realize that they can play this part while their kids are at practice. The hints on how to teach batting are helpful. It includes how to position hands while holding the bat, drawing circles on the ground for the child to know where to stand and drawing a spot of the ball. This is great for parents who might want to start helping their children learn the sport. After receiving this book to review, it reminded me how much fun baseball was as a child and we made it a point to take our children to two local minor league games. We have lived here eight years and had never been to a game. Baseball games will become a regular family date night.