The Very Best Baseball Game - by Katie M Blackburn (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

When Carson wakes up one Saturday morning, his mom reminds him it's his day to volunteer at a baseball game. But this baseball game is different. The team Carson is helping is called the Challengers, and it's made up of kids with all different kinds of disabilities. Carson and other typically-abled kids partner with the Challengers to help them play the game. Throughout the morning, Carson learns about selflessness, humility, kindness, and God's plan to use all of us exactly how He made us.

Based on a real baseball team, The Very Best Baseball Game is a sweet, endearing story that helps families begin conversations about disability, empathy, and God's design for every person. People aren't all made the same, but we are all made in God's image. Illustrator Anastasiya Kanavaliuk depicts a wide representation of joyful kids with disabilities while author Katie Blackburn tells a story that's sure to warm your heart.

By the time Carson is heading home in his car, he understands that every person is valuable regardless of their abilities and deserves to be treated with dignity, kindness, and respect. It's the best baseball game he ever played.

Review Quotes

"In The Very Best Baseball Game, Katie has given us an incredible tool to open conversations in the home about important topics like compassion, empathy, disability, and kindness. Through its relatable characters and sweet illustrations, children will gain a greater understanding of the Imago Dei and the beauty of differences. This book is a must-have for your bookshelf!"
-Laura Wifler, Bestselling, award-winning author of multiple children's books, including Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer and Like Me

"It's one thing to tell our kids that people with limited abilities have dignity, it's another to show them how to interact in a way that demonstrates that reality. Katie does that so well in The Very Best Baseball Game as she tells a story that both acknowledges the awkwardness and demonstrates the value of overcoming the discomfort that arises from difference in order to make connections that result in joy. The kids who read this book will not only be better equipped to recognize, care for, and interact with people who are different from them, they'll look forward to it as an opportunity, and maybe, just maybe, they'll be inspired to seek them out."
-Abbey Wedgeworth, author of the Training Young Hearts Series

"This is an awesome book. It will make kids help kids with disabilities." -Abbey's son Will, age 8.

"The Very Best Baseball Game is a captivating story about a young boy who believes he has nothing in common with a team of children who seem very different from him. However, he discovers that they share more similarities than he initially thought. This beautiful book conveys a powerful message that every child needs to hear: even though we are unique, we are all made in the image of God. Libraries and families around the world would benefit from adding this book to their shelves!"
-Hunter Beless, founder of Journeywomen Ministries, Bible teacher, and children's book author

About the Author

Katie Blackburn is a single mother of six children, including her son who was diagnosed with severe autism at age two. She is co-host of the Coffee + Crumbs podcast, author of Gluing the Cracks, and a contributing author to The Magic of Motherhood. Her writing has been featured on Coffee + Crumbs, Risen Motherhood, The Gospel Coalition, ERLC, and more. When Katie isn't writing, parenting, or folding laundry, she loves watching college football and pretending she actually knows how to bake.