Take Me Out to the Ball Game

This article originally appeared in SLJ’s Extra Helping. Sign up now!

-- School Library Journal, 4/13/2006

In the spring, many a young person's thoughts turn to…baseball! Going to a game with a friend or family member can be one of a child's most memorable experiences. Help prepare them for the stadium and the game with these titles that take readers to the ballparks of today, and yesterday.

KOVALSKI, Maryann. Take Me Out to the Ball Game. illus. by author. Fitzhenry & Whiteside. 2004. Tr $15.95. ISBN 1-55041-897-1.

PreS-Gr 2–What could be better than a grandma who busts you out of school for the day to go to a baseball game?! Kovalski incorporates the words from Jack Norworth's anthem in this charmingly told and illustrated story that spans the day's experiences, from the subway ride to the Cracker Jacks to the very last out. The music to the title song is included as well, for classroom renditions.

COREY, Shana. Players in Pigtails. illus. by Rebecca Gibbon. Scholastic. 2003. RTE $16.95. ISBN 0-439-18305-7; pap. $5.99. ISBN 0-439-18306-5.

K-Gr 4–With the country at war and the fate of baseball in question, Philip Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs, decides to put together the first and only girls' professional baseball league. Corey's story, inspired by the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, follows young Katie Casey as she becomes part of this amazing chapter in baseball history.

TAVARES, Matt. Mudball. illus. by author. Candlewick. 2005. RTE $15.99. ISBN 0-7636-2387-3.

Gr 1-5–Determination and bad weather were on Little Andy Oyler's side during one particularly memorable baseball game in 1903 between the St. Paul Saints and their archrival Minneapolis Millers. The shortest guy on the team becomes a hero, and a legend is made when Oyler's accidental bunt gets lost in the muddy infield. Tavares's players wear a variety of alarmed and hysterically funny expressions as they splash, flop, and dive around the bases.

CURLEE, Lynn. Ballpark: The Story of America's Baseball Fields. illus. by author. S & S. 2005. RTE $17.95. ISBN 0-689-86742-5.

Gr 3-6–Hardcore baseball fans and bleacher bums alike will enjoy this trip around America's greatest ballparks, most of them no longer in existence. Curlee provides a great deal of historical background on the evolution of baseball and on the stadiums created that allowed it to become the popular spectator event it is today. His highly detailed acrylic-on-canvas artwork makes this a great title even for browsers.

To go beyond this list, visit The Guide to Baseball Fiction.

Remarkable Reads are produced by the editors of NoveList, NoveList K-8, and Book Index with Reviews (BIR), leading resources for readers' advisory services and collection development. For more information, see epnet.com.

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