When Beans hurts his leg in soccer practice right before the big championship game, his best friend Chester thinks it’s all his fault! Beans may not be able to play in the game, but he can still play an important role on the team when he cheers up—and cheers on—Chester.

Richard Torrey grew up in a family of boys—with two brothers, two half brothers, and two stepbrothers—where entire weekends could be occupied by a couple of cardboard boxes, a few crayons, and a lot of imagination. As a brother, and later as a father of two, he learned that compromise is a big part of successful play, as the two children in?The Almost Terrible Playdate?soon find out. He is the author-illustrator of three Beans Baker books in the Step into Reading line, in addition to numerous other books for children. He lives in Shoreham, New York.