My Life as a Diamond
CBC Books | | Posted: May 28, 2020 4:05 PM | Last Updated: July 22, 2021
Jenny Manzer
Ten-year-old Caspar "Caz" Cadman loves baseball and has a great arm. He loves the sounds, the smells, the stats. When his family moves from Toronto to a suburb of Seattle, the first thing he does is try out for the local summer team, the Redburn Ravens. Even though Caz is thrilled when he makes the team, he worries because he has a big secret.
No one knows that back in Toronto, Caz used to live life as a girl named Cassandra. And it's nobody's business. Caz will tell his new friends when he's ready.
But when a player on a rival team starts snooping around, Caz's past is revealed, and Caz worries it will be Toronto all over again.
Will Caz's teammates rally behind their star pitcher? Or will Caz be betrayed once more? (From Orca Book Publishers)
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From the book
It all started with a haircut. A week before my tenth birthday, I came from home from school and told my mom I wanted my hair to be cut—like,now. My hair suddenly felt like this heavy, weighted thing, not right on my head at all. I always wore it in a single braid, and it kept thump-thumping me on the back when I ran, like someone tapping me on the shoulder.
"You have baseball practice," my mom said.I always had baseball practice. I was on two base-ball teams — one for regular kids and the other for players who were really good. I don't mean to brag, but it's the truth. Even when I was five years old, I could throw a ball almost to the end of our street.
"We can make time," I said. "It won't take long."
She must have known by my tone that I was serious, because she agreed, and we drove to The Chop Shop at the mall. My hands were trembling a little bit, the way they did when I practiced pitching and lost track of time. But some days you just know something.
From My Life as a Diamond by Jenny Manzer ©2018. Published by Orca Book Publishers.