FICTION

This Is the Game

by Jessica Alexander
978-0-06055-522-1.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 3—This florid tribute to the Grand Ole Game features singsong rhymes and artful, color-drenched paintings. Most begin "This is..." and go on to laud the bat, grandstand, ballpark, stadium, and so on. Attention is given to baseball's widespread popularity and stickball origins, and a few great players make an appearance: Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, and Jackie Robinson, "the Dodger" whose major league debut "helps to make/one single league out of two." This is a well-intentioned effort but the repetitive rhymes feel forced. This uninspired effort fails to distinguish itself from a crowded field of picture-book tributes.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
Shore and Alexander touch on historical elements of baseball along with highlighting a handful of players including "Dizzy" Dean ("his fastball is mean!"), Babe Ruth ("the Sultan of Swat"), and Jackie Robinson ("This is the Dodger / fulfilling a dream..."). This appealing paean to the "ages-old pastime that captures us all" is illustrated with big-blue-sky, lush-green-grass paintings.
Reviewed by Marilyn Taniguchi , Mar 01, 2011

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