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Overview
Emily loves to play on her Little League baseball team. She visits the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York and learns about the Negro Leagues that were formed when black players were banned from major league teams. Emily's report includes information about the early players, the greatest superstars, and the story of Jackie Robinson, who broke the "color line" in 1947. This title captures all the fun and excitement of baseball, while also exploring the serious issue of segregation in America.
Presents a history of the Negro leagues, in the form of a school report written by a young girl after a visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Synopsis
Presents a history of the Negro leagues, in the form of a school report written by a young girl after a visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 3-This book opens with a teacher giving her class a vague assignment to "write about something that happened thousands of years ago or about something that happened not so very long ago-." Emily chooses to write about her visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame where she saw an entire room dedicated to the Negro Leagues. She records interesting facts such as how players often rode through the towns on bikes or dressed in fancy clothes to get people to attend their games and how pitchers used Vaseline or sandpaper on the balls to make them jump and dip. There is little substance here beyond the mention of a handful of players. Emily editorializes throughout her report-"Finally, in 1947, baseball changed. By then, more and more white people thought it wasn't fair that black players couldn't be in the major leagues. (I don't know why it took them so long to figure that out.)" Black-and-white vintage photos are surrounded by colorful drawings. On the final page, Ms. Brandt writes a note back to Emily and mentions Ken Burns's TV documentary, but there is no bibliography appended to extend this reference for those who would like to view the video. Lawrence S. Ritter's Leagues Apart: The Men and Times of the Negro Baseball Leagues (Morrow, 1995) tells the story better, but for an older audience.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.