A fast-paced, sports-infused adventure about baseball, fair play and the dream of success

Children’s and Young Adult

The word diamond is also used for a baseball field – and it is this diamond which children from two remote American mountain villages fight over at the end of an adventure story written by the English studies scholar Bára Dočkalová, originally as a script for a school play. The prose adaptation was successful not only in terms of its composition but in particular from the psychological perspective of the characters and the emphasis on the values held by the main character, eleven-year-old Luke: he is courageous and goes his own way. Even though he has a minor physical handicap he trains with determination and dreams that one day he will move up from the home team to the high-school select from a nearby town. A chance meeting with a professional baseball player not only changes the lives of several village boys but it also affects a long-standing feud between the neighbouring communities. At first Luke has to contend with great disappointment before being faced with the challenge of his life. This dynamic sports-themed story appeals to both boys and girls; the exciting story is made even more vivid by the introduction to each chapter with detailed drawings by Jindřich Janíček, a popular, award-winning book designer, comics illustrator and recipient of the Czech Grand Design.

Age 11+