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THE JOURNAL OF BIDDY OWENS

Name: THE JOURNAL OF BIDDY OWENS
Author: Walter Dean Myers
ISBN: 0-439-09503-4

THE NEGRO LEAGUES

by Walter Dean Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2001

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Biddy Owens, 17, “equipment manager, scorekeeper, errand boy, and sometimes right fielder” for the Birmingham Black Barons, narrates in diary form the twilight time of the Negro Leagues. This solid entry in the “My Name Is America” series must cover a lot of ground—Jim Crow laws, the beginnings of civil-rights unrest, the integration of the major leagues, adolescent yearnings (soft-pedaled), and baseball, baseball, baseball—but Myers (Bad Boy, above, etc.) handles it all with relative ease. There is rather more exposition of life in the South than would likely have appeared in a contemporary journal, but this is not too intrusive and is quickly overshadowed by Biddy’s agreeable voice as he weighs a baseball career (unlikely, given his admittedly limited ability) against going to college. Biddy’s family comes to life as honestly as the historical figures he works with on a day-to-day basis. Baseball legends Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron all make cameo appearances, but the characters who dominate are those whose careers largely ended with the Negro Leagues: the 1948 Black Barons, led by second baseman and manager Piper Davis, whose fierce determination to win carries the team—and the reader—through a grueling pennant race to what was to become the last Negro League World Series. The tale is suffused with pride and affection for these first-class ballplayers who labored as second-class citizens, and with a real wistfulness at the passing of an era. Rich historical context, fully realized characters, great baseball action, and trademark Myers humor combine to make this one a homerun. (Fiction. 9-14)

Pub Date: April 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-439-09503-4

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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FREDERICK DOUGLASS
by Walter Dean Myers ; illustrated by Floyd Cooper

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JUBA!
by Walter Dean Myers

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MONSTER
by Walter Dean Myers ; adapted by Guy A. Sims ; illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile

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FROM A DISTANCE

by Julie Gold ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999

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A song made famous by a host of singers has become a picture book that well suits the lyric’s eloquent plea for universal peace and understanding. Based on a utopian vision of what the world could and should be like, the intricate folk-art drawings show the earth, first from a great distance, then increasingly closer and more intimately. As the text shifts from describing scenes of harmony and plenty to more ominous images of war and want, the illustrations depict troubled faces in the windows of homes and military activity in the background. The spare text and powerful images work in accord to provide educators and parents with a book that can be used to stimulate discussion of many different issues. (Picture book. 7-10)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-525-45872-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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WHY NOT, LAFAYETTE?

by Jean Fritz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999

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From Fritz (You Want Women To Vote, Lizzie Stanton?, 1995, etc.), another winning portrait of a colorful historical figure with whom most readers will have but a nodding acquaintance. Rich, bored, 19, and thirsty for glory, Lafayette impulsively bought a ship in 1777 and sailed away to join the American colonists in their fight against Britain. An ardent admirer of George Washington and of republican ideas—“It was as if he had not only been plunged into the very stuff of liberty, but had been swished around in it until he was soaked through”—Lafayette became a war hero, returned to France for a long career as a political firebrand, then, in his late 60s, came back to this country for a 5,000-mile-long triumphal tour. Fritz adds telling—and usually entertaining—details so effectively that readers will be stirred even at this distance by Lafayette’s accomplishments, personal gifts as a leader and mediator, and lifelong idealism. (Biography. 10-13)