GRANDMA'S BASEBALL

A small black boy tells how Grandma, whom he has met only twice--including ""last year at Grandpa's funeral,"" when she ""looked sort of grumpy""--comes to live with his family. Grandma still seems grumpy--she's bossy and has too many ideas about what's good for the boy. When she catches him playing with a special baseball that he finds in her room, he's sure he's in trouble. Instead, Grandma teaches him a better way to throw and--while weeping over the memory of Grandpa teaching her--makes friends with her grandson and agrees to ""lighten up on the oatmeal"" if he'll try not to slam the door. Not subtle, but refreshingly true to life; the unassuming watercolor illustrations are appropriate to the text.