The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Weatherford, Carole Boston

Champions on the Bench: The Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars

32 pp. | Dial | January, 2007 | Trade ISBN 978-0-8037-2987-2 $16.99

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. In this fictionalized account of a true story, an African American Little League team in South Carolina can't enter the playoffs because sixty-one white teams refuse to play them. While the story is dramatic in and of itself, the text doesn't manage to convey much emotion; the impressionistic illustrations are more effective. An author's note provides background information on the 1955 event.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith