Sam's First Review

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane
Reviewed by Samantha Sparhawk

When I first saw the novel The Girl Who Threw Butterflies I did not think it was going to be about baseball. I did not know a lot about baseball but Mick Cochrane the author made me feel as if I where in the field watching them play.

This story took place in Buffalo. I have never been to New York, but I could sort of picture this city in my head as I was reading the book. The story is based on a girl in middle school. Her name is Molly. Molly’s father died about six months ago, and it was all that Molly could ever think about.

Molly’s father loved baseball, and so did she. They would always go outside and play catch. Molly’s father taught her how to throw the butterfly, or the knuckleball. The year before this Molly played softball and did not like it. She said that the ball was too big and a little harder to throw.

Molly has a best friend named Celia. Celia and Molly have been friends forever. One day, Molly thought of an idea. She wanted to try out for the boys baseball team. She told Celia about her idea and Celia thought it was crazy. But then Molly explained her idea a little bit more and Celia felt a little bit better.

The first practice came around and Molly began to have second thoughts about wanting to be on the boys team. However, she thought that if her father were there he would have told her to go for it. She sucked it up and was there at the practice as the only girl and she was proud of it. She saw some boys that she knew. She was fine until it came to be time to find partners. She was scared because all the boys seemed to be picking people quickly and she did not want to be the kid that does not know what to do and have to be told where to go.

But then there was a tap on her arm. It was Lonnie House. She was very surprised that she saw Lonnie there.

Lonnie was an artist who loved to draw, paint or anything that had to do with art. The year before Lonnie was asked to draw a mural on the wall in the school. Molly and Lonnie’s friend ship grew and grew. Molly wanted to be pitcher of the team and Lonnie wanted to be a catcher. It was perfect. Now every practice, they would work together when it was time to play pass.
Molly had a secret weapon. The knuckle ball. This particular pitch is the one that landed her the role of being one of the pitchers on the team. She did not always pitch it perfectly, and she had to be careful her form before she threw the ball.

There was a kid on the team that didn’t like Molly. His name was Lloyd- Coleman. He hit Molly with a baseball one of the first practices that she had. He also wrote “give it up” on her school locker. He has a bunch of friends that kind of didn’t like her as well.

Molly’s mother had been quiet ever since the car accident that her husband was in. She always had paper work or catalogs that she is is looking at. Molly thinks that her mother does not really understand her as much as her father did. When Molly’s mom had figured out that Molly was on the boy’s baseball team, she was not very happy with her daughter at all. She thought that Molly had tried out for the girls softball team When found out that that was not true she asked why she didn't like softball, saying, “You liked it so much last year.” Molly told her “How do you know I liked softball you never showed up to my games you don’t even know what position I played.” After their argument Molly’s mother gave up and said that it was okay that she was playing baseball.

In the end of this book Molly decides that it wouldn’t be awful to take her moms offer to move to Milwaukee with her. This means that she has to leave her baseball team, her friends and the house that her father once lived in all behind her. It was tough to decide but she did and she was happy with it. Lonnie had given her a goodbye kiss and it was so hard for Molly to say by to Celia but she got through it just fine.

I enjoyed reading this novel a lot. Even though i could not relate to the book other than that i enjoy playing sports, I still enjoyed it. This particular writing style is on the point of view of a middle school girl who enjoys baseball. I say if you enjoy a book about sports, challenges, some sadness I recommend this book. I give this book three thumbs up!