Roasted Peanuts

Egan, Tim. Roasted Peanuts. Illustrated by Tim Egan. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. ISBN 0618337180. $16.00. Ages 6-8.

Will Sam and Jackson become baseball legends or will the game ruin their friendship? Two best friends try out for a local baseball team. A horse, Sam, makes the Grazer’s team while Jackson, a cat, does not. Sam does not have the heart for baseball like he did when he and Jackson played together. Jackson then sells roasted peanuts at Grant’s field. Sam becomes a professional at baseball while Jackson becomes known as the best roasted peanuts seller of all. The best friends then both become legends but for completely different reasons. Tim Egan’s writing style is dead-pan and not up-beat or interesting. Perhaps Egan could have added some tempo or rhythm to the writing style. Throughout Roasted Peanuts the use of ink and watercolors are very similar in color. The illustrations seemed dull and warm. Egan lacked making the illustrations stand out to grasp the reader's attention. This animalistic story of a horse and a cat becoming legends is very fictional. I did not enjoy the story line. This picture book seemed a bit boring and dull for primary grade levels.

Victoria Rogers, BGSU student