Baseball Is In the Background in Field of Beans

Somebody at Big Idea must have had beans on the brain in 2005. The Christian company most famous for its DVDs and books involving computer-animated veggies and fruits delighted geeks like me with the release of the video Lord of the Beans, a spoof of Lord of the Rings. Around the same time came Field of Beans, a VeggieTown Values book that uses Field of Dreams as a springboard for a message about faith.

In this book, written by Doug Peterson and illustrated by Michael Moore, Junior Asparagus is getting frustrated. That’s because all of his Little League teammates are razzing him for striking out, costing them the game. Junior begins to think they might be right when they berate him for not carrying a lucky charm. Could a rabbit’s foot or a pair of dice turn Junior into a baseball star?

As in the rest of the stories in this series, Junior finds the solution to his problem in a book suggested to him by the proprietor of the Treasure Trove Bookstore. In this case, he begins to read and finds himself in the middle of a crowded baseball stadium. He’s about to witness a showdown between the Mount Carmel Dodgers and the Baal City Relics, but it doesn’t involve any bats or balls. Instead, the main event seems more like half-time fare, with a competition involving two enormous grills that don’t seem to want to light.

Some of the books in this series include several plot elements from the movies whose titles they spoof, but in this case, the connections are pretty general. It’s about baseball, and it’s about sticking to your guns even though your convictions may seem silly to other people. It does strike me as a little odd that the main story, despite occurring at a ballpark, doesn’t actually include any baseball-playing, but Peterson was trying to create a modern-day version of Elijah’s showdown with the followers of Baal in 1 Kings, and it translates reasonably well.

Appealing elements of this story include the excitement of the ballpark atmosphere and the transformation of certain characters like Pa Grape, the only player on the Dodgers, and Bob and Larry, who are a pair of commentators. References to Casey at the Bat and Take Me Out to the Ball Game are fun as well.

While I do think the book is a little heavy-handed and that the idea of having a team with only one player on it doesn’t make much sense, I think Peterson gets his message across, and children who like baseball should enjoy the setting, along with a couple of amusing new characters. A solid story that might encourage the reading of even more Veggie tales in the future.