The Horn Book Guide

SPORTS

Ripken, Cal, Jr.

The Longest Season: The Story of the Orioles' 1988 Losing Streak

32 pp. | Philomel | April, 2007 | Trade ISBN 978-0-399-24492-6 $16.99

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ron Mazellan. A dispirited Cal Ripken Jr. is depicted on the cover of his picture book about the Baltimore Orioles's twenty-one-game losing streak. Mazellan's mixed-media illustrations offer perspectives from the dugout, the clubhouse, and the field, but the view grows grimmer with each page turn. The "winning isn't everything" message is almost as hard on readers as it was on the Orioles.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin