Roasted Peanuts (review)

Sam, a gifted athletic horse, and Jackson, an uncoordinated cat with a talent for throwing, dream of being baseball legends one day. When the time comes to try out for the local team, the Grazers, Sam shines while Jackson goes bust. Thoroughly discouraged, Jackson is unenthusiastic when Sam tries to convince him to take a job as peanut vendor, but when it becomes clear that Sam is washing out without the support of his friend, Jackson turns up in the stands, using his phenomenal arm to toss peanuts across dizzying distances to waiting fans. Sam is back on his game as Jackson discovers his, and the two soon become the legends they always dreamed of being, signing autographs together after the games. In the final game of the season, it takes the two of them to pull off the winning run, as the outfielder who could have easily caught Sam's pop fly was too busy watching to see if Jackson could break the record for the farthest peanut throw. Egan's signature style of stolid chunky animal figures in a nature-hued palette gives an appropriately nostalgic inflection to the subject matter; all of the fans wear hats, for instance, and dress with old-fashioned formality. Their sober expressions and Egan's deadpan wit give an air of ironic seriousness to the goings-on, but it is the perfectly paced narrative arc and fully satisfying conclusion of this homely tale of heroic friendship and the triumph of the underdog—er, undercat—that will guarantee it wide audience appeal.