In this worthy packet of information about famous players from the Negro Leagues, Winter’s narrative is marred only by a comic-book tone and exclamation points that detract from otherwise spectacular statistics and stories. Every player gets a page of text designed to resemble a baseball card, faced with a full-page portrait; some of these are close-up studies, others are fluid action shots. The illustrations have the deep contrasts and the sharp overexposed edges of antique, hand-tinted photographs. Winter provides highlights and quotations, and tells whether or not the player is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Readers will learn that Josh Gibson was the only player to hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium; that Bingo DeMoss always played second base with a toothpick in his mouth; and that Martin Dihigo is the only player to be elected to baseball halls of fame in four countries (the US, Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela). He closes the text with his ultimate all-star teams for the American and National Leagues. (Picture book/biography. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-39464-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS
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In this sweetly sentimental story set in the frozen twilight of an Arctic spring, George (Morning, Noon, and Night, p. 699, etc.) tells of an Inuit girl who goes out to hunt. Bessie Nivyek sets out with her big brother, Vincent, to hunt for food; in a twist out of McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal, Bessie bumps into a young bear, and they frolic: climbing, sliding, somersaulting, and cuddling. Vincent spies the tracks of his little sister and follows, wary of the mother bear; the mother bear is just as wary of Vincent. Out of the water rears danger to both the child and cub—a huge male polar bear. The mother bear warns her cub; it runs away, as does Bessie. Brother and sister head back home, “to eat, go to school, and learn the wisdom of the Arctic like Eskimo children do.” The brief text is lyrical and the illustrations are striking, with an impressively varied palette of white, in blue, green, yellow, and gold. Children who note that Vincent goes home empty-handed will wonder why he didn’t hunt any of the polar bears that were within range. While children will enjoy this romantic view of Bessie and the bear, those seeking a more realistic representation of life in this harsh environment will be unsatisfied. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7868-0456-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS
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During WWII, as men went overseas, women assumed many of their jobs; Rappaport and Callan enthusiastically invent a fictional witness to that historical moment when baseball, too, was taken over by women. Two teams from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Rockford Peaches and the Racine Belles, are vying for the 1946 championship. It’s the bottom of the 14th and the score is 0-0. In the stands, Margaret’s father, having just returned from fighting overseas, has joined his family for this final game of the season. As the last inning unfolds, Margaret, shouting and cheering, can hardly wait until she’s old enough to join this group of talented women. While the Belles joyously celebrate their victory on the field, Margaret proudly recalls her mother’s words, “You do have to be tough to play baseball in a skirt.” The text benefits from Lewis’s full-page watercolors, which range from the antic and expressive to exquisitely solemn with tension. Curiously missing from the historical notes is any reference to the popular film, A League of Their Own, which first revived interest in the league. That doesn’t detract from a book that reminds readers not to restrict their dreams on the basis of gender. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8037-2042-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
Categories: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS
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