Did You Know That Goblins Invented Baseball?

 

Author: Paul Lonardo
Publisher: PL Publishing
Published: April 11, 2021

Goodreads Blub: 
The one thing eleven-year-old Jake Lupo loves more than anything else is baseball. However, despite his father being a professional pitcher, Jake's fear of failing has kept him from competing against children his own age. When his father, who has recovered from a serious arm injury, is invited to pitch for an independent team, Jake and his parents move to Pine Barrows, a far flung forested mountain outpost. Jake is excited about his father's chance at a comeback, but he soon learns that he is not the only one in Pine Barrows who loves baseball. Goblins love to play baseball, too, and Pine Barrows happens to be chock full of them. Then Jake discovers that the region is occupied by two factions of warring goblins.

Seeking to take control of the goblin kingdom, the leader of the evil goblins kidnaps Jake's mother and bans baseball, a game which itself is a natural source of power for the goblins.

It turns out that Jake has a secret kinship with the legendary beings, and he is the only one who can save them, their kingdom and his mother. However, Jake must believe in himself and play a winner-take-all game against the best goblin players in Pine Barrows. 

My Thoughts: This book was absolutely delightful. I'm an avid reader of folklore, so I really loved that all the different types of goblins and other faerie creatures were straight out of lore or fairystories. The hogboon, fachan, redcap, kallikanzaros, and Jenny Greenteeth, (just to name a few) are all creatures pulled from (mostly European) legends. These terrifying creatures have been stalking human imaginations for centuries. Jenny Greenteeth, goblins, and hobgoblins have even made their way into D&D (Dungeons & Dragons). I found Lonardo's depiction of the goblins quite accurate, I loved how many different species there were - every goblin was unique, and contributed something useful to their society. 

While this story abounds with magic, goblins, and intrigue, the true heart of the story is about baseball. I like baseball, I like going to baseball games, but I do not speak baseball. Jake speaks baseball. He knows every facet of the game, he knows statistics, and theories, and formulas that made absolutely no sense to me. So it's understandable that I got a bit lost during the "big game", I could follow everything until the baseball lingo really started. So, avid fans of baseball, you're gonna love this book, casual fans, maybe find a dictionary. 

At the end of the day, goblins really love baseball. And I mean REALLY LOVE BASEBALL. They invented it after all. The game is everything to them, Buach (evil goblin overlord) first started down the path to the darkside because he got cut from a junior league team. Seriously. I'm not making this up. The goblins are divided into two factions - The Order (which Buach leads) and the Resistance (lead by Skip). Basically the Resistance wants to play baseball and have a good time, and the Order wants to control everything and demolish all happiness. Seems pretty easy to pick out the good guys, as Jake's dad says: "You can't trust anyone who doesn't like baseball". Turns out all the goblins LOVE baseball, even Buach, though he may deny it. 

I thought this book was very fun, a good step into the world of fantasy for young readers, AND an awesome bridge between sports and fantasy. If Rip Van Winkle's dwarf friends could play nine-pins, then goblins can play baseball.

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