Alisse Lee Goldenberg and Joseph Goldenberg Firebird Book Award Winner Author Interview

Lucky At Bat is about a young boy named Jack, and his two rescue rats- Lucky and Gus-Gus. He discovers, through taking Lucky to Little League practice, that Lucky has a talent for baseball, and the little rat becomes the team’s mascot and secret batting coach. This book follows the relationship between the two rat brothers, as well as the relationship between a boy and his pets. We see inter-team dynamics, as Jack befriends the other children on his softball team, and the rivalries that build between Jack’s team, and the other teams in the league.

Tensions rise between Jack’s team- The Bulldogs, and their main rivals- The Devil Rays. Danny, a boy on the Devil Rays, feels that having Lucky there is somehow cheating. Things come to a head, when a pitch thrown by Danny hits Lucky’s carrier. Lucky and Jack feel that maybe a rat’s place isn’t at a ballpark, despite the fact that Lucky had been made an important part of the team.

It becomes up to Jack’s teammates and Lucky’s brother Gus-Gus to show both Lucky and Jack that they are special and important, and they should not give up on their dreams, no matter how big their dreams may be.