(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Cato Jones and his friends, who are Black, skip school and cross the county line to see Poplar Field, the white boys' new baseball field. Cato wants his father, who died four years earlier, to see it, symbolically, through his eyes. Daddy Mo, a pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro American League, would have loved the nicely groomed field with real bases, a raised pitcher's mound, and bleachers. But this is 1939, and what the friends are doing is dangerous. Sure enough, they are wrongly accused of vandalizing the field and required to work at Luke Blackburn's grocery store to teach them a lesson. Mr. Luke, a white man Cato has never liked or trusted, turns out to have been friends with Daddy Mo and offers Cato and his friends a chance to practice on the field with his son's team, sparking racial tensions in town. Headen captures the layers of racism embedded in a southern town where the histories of Black and white communities intertwine. To honor Black players of the past, Headen has named the players on Cato's team after actual players from the Negro Leagues. Extensive back matter includes a timeline, an author's note, a bibliography, and additional historical information.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) YA September 1946. Effa Manley is in the stands of New York City's Polo Grounds to watch a Negro World Series game between the Kansas City Monarchs and the Newark Eagles. She is the owner of the Eagles, a league executive, and a highly successful Black woman of the 1930s and 1940s, and this game is a celebration of "Black baseball, of Black community, of new Black money that had come streaming into the community via the war and accompanying hiring sprees." Manley is passionate about the game and envisions the Negro Leagues in partnership with Major League Baseball as farm teams that would "keep Black baseball in operation, and...also support integration by providing a steady stream of Black talent for the Majors." It is not the direction that baseball went, but ­Williams's story of Effa Manley and baseball is a dramatic narrative tapestry of America in Manley's time: the Harlem Renaissance; Booker T. Washington; ­Marcus ­Garvey; Babe Ruth and the Yankees; Negro Leagues greats Satchel Paige, Larry Doby, Moses Fleetwood Walker, and Josh Gibson; the Great Depression; and on into the era of integrated baseball with the signing of Jackie Robinson in 1945. A large font, spacious page design, and well-selected black-and-white photographs--along with the fascinating history--make for an inviting read and a good match with Nelson's We Are the Ship (rev. 5/08). Back matter includes an author's note, extensive source notes, a thorough bibliography, and an index.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(4) 4-6 Doeden's slim volume on the history of the Negro Leagues is reasonably comprehensive. Establishing solid facts amid a "knowledge gap"--from lack of newspaper coverage, inadequately kept statistics, and unreliable oral anecdotes--is a challenge. Doeden's writing is cautious where readers might long for more enthusiasm, but this is still a worthwhile addition to baseball collections. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) 4-6 Craft relates his experiences during two summer seasons in the late 1950s playing semi-pro baseball as the only white player in the West Texas Colored League. Though the writing is unpolished, Craft recounts with immediacy both game moments and his unusual journey to overcome his own prejudices as well as those of his teammates and opponents. Vintage photographs add interest. Bib.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. In 1936, was twenty-one-year-old Joe DiMaggio ready for the Major Leagues? Should Satchel Paige, pitching great in the Negro Leagues, be playing in the Majors? A game was set up, and both players proved themselves worthy. Skead uses a little-known baseball episode to portray larger issues of race and justice in America; grainy brown-toned illustrations nicely evoke the dreamy reminiscences of baseball legend. Bib.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(4) YA Negro Baseball Leagues series. Despite occasional photo caption inaccuracies, this series is a worthy addition to any baseball collection. Who wouldn't admire players such as "Pop" Lloyd, who was hit by a foul ball in his left eye, hit in the right eye four innings later, and showed up to play the following day? Frequent quotations and plentiful archival photographs enliven this fascinating period in sports history. Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Negro Baseball League titles: Great Hitters of the Negro Leagues, Great Pitchers of the Negro Leagues, The Negro Leagues' Integration Era, and The Story of the Negro Leagues.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) YA Negro Baseball Leagues series. Despite occasional photo caption inaccuracies, this series is a worthy addition to any baseball collection. Who wouldn't admire players such as "Pop" Lloyd, who was hit by a foul ball in his left eye, hit in the right eye four innings later, and showed up to play the following day? Frequent quotations and plentiful archival photographs enliven this fascinating period in sports history. Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Negro Baseball League titles: Great Hitters of the Negro Leagues, Great Pitchers of the Negro Leagues, The Negro Leagues' Integration Era, and The Story of the Negro Leagues.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Frank Morrison. The historic East-West Classic of the Negro League (when African Americans were not allowed in the Major Leagues), is reported in play-by-play detail by a radio sportscaster. Awkward rhyming and uneven rhythm hamper the flow of an otherwise riveting narrative; the text, nicely accompanied by black-and-white graphite drawings, allows readers to become acquainted with early baseball greats.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) YA Negro Baseball Leagues series. Despite occasional photo caption inaccuracies, this series is a worthy addition to any baseball collection. Who wouldn't admire players such as "Pop" Lloyd, who was hit by a foul ball in his left eye, hit in the right eye four innings later, and showed up to play the following day? Frequent quotations and plentiful archival photographs enliven this fascinating period in sports history. Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Negro Baseball League titles: Great Hitters of the Negro Leagues, Great Pitchers of the Negro Leagues, The Negro Leagues' Integration Era, and The Story of the Negro Leagues.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) YA Negro Baseball Leagues series. Despite occasional photo caption inaccuracies, this series is a worthy addition to any baseball collection. Who wouldn't admire players such as "Pop" Lloyd, who was hit by a foul ball in his left eye, hit in the right eye four innings later, and showed up to play the following day? Frequent quotations and plentiful archival photographs enliven this fascinating period in sports history. Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Negro Baseball League titles: Great Hitters of the Negro Leagues, Great Pitchers of the Negro Leagues, The Negro Leagues' Integration Era, and The Story of the Negro Leagues.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Don Tate. Effa Manley was the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This book describes her work as an owner/manager of the Newark Eagles, a Negro League team, and her tireless fight on behalf of African Americans whenever she encountered injustice. Rich-hued paintings capture the times in addition to Manley's warmth and determination.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(3) K-3 In 1942, baseball-loving Willie listens to radio broadcasts of games, not realizing all the players are white. Upon learning he's "the wrong color," Willie feels "all closed up inside." Watching Negro League players win a barnstorming game against Major Leaguers restores Willie's equilibrium. Cooper's text and paintings beautifully display Willie's shifting emotions. An author's note tells more about Negro League Baseball.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(2) 1-3 Scraps of Time series. Illustrated by Gordon C. James. Gee's baseball-obsessed cousins' lives get interesting when their parents rent a room to Negro League slugger Josh Gibson. After getting caught trying to sneak into a game, they have to clean up the stadium, but they also get to practice with their hero. Sprinkled into the story are interesting subplots about life in Nashville during the Jim Crow period. Timeline.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2009

(1) 4-6 Imagine listening to Willie Mays and Ernie Banks swapping tales. That easygoing, conversational storytelling is what Nelson achieves in this pitch-perfect history of Negro League baseball. His extensive research yields loads of attention-grabbing details. The grand slam, though, is the art: Nelson's oil paintings have a steely dignity, and his from-the-ground perspectives make the players look larger than life. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Rich Tommaso. Narrator Emmet Wilson describes his time in the Negro Leagues and its highlight: scoring against Satchel Paige. Wilson is a sharecropper, and this graphic novel is as much about segregation in the American South during the early- to mid-twentieth century as it is about baseball. The story is a concise and engaging introduction to many topics surrounding Jim Crow laws.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) 4-6 Charlie desperately wants to play baseball on his town's team. Flustered by a bully, he fails his try-outs but visiting Negro League player Luther Peale offers to coach him. However, 1950s small town Iowa isn't ready for Luther, and racial tensions soon erupt, fueled by a mystery surrounding Luther's past. A bit predictable, this well-paced novel is nevertheless engaging.

Reviewer: Lauren Aimonette LIang

(4) K-3 Lacking a running narrative, this disjointed scrapbook, comprising text, visual motifs, and photos, is strictly for the initiated. Weatherford captures both the enthusiasm generated by the Negro League and the racist laws and attitudes that shortchanged players and fans, who often had to tote picnics because stadium concession stands would close for Negro League games. Ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright & Ying-Hwa Hu. The athletic feats of Josh Gibson, a star in baseball's Negro League, are narrated from the fictional perspective of a grandfather who remembers attending many of Gibson's games. The conclusion focuses on one especially dramatic game, played at New York's Yankee Stadium. Gibson's remarkable talent is revealed through well-matched text and illustrations, which together tell a lively tale that reads like fiction.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin

(3) 4-6 My Name Is America series. In his journal, seventeen-year-old Biddy Owens--"equipment manager, scorekeeper, errand boy, and sometimes right fielder" for the Birmingham Black Barons--describes his love of baseball. Myers, with his usual clear, strong writing voice, conveys the excitement, anger, frustration, and poignancy of the last years of the Negro Leagues. Appended is a brief historical note and archival photos.

Reviewer: Deborah L. Thompson

(4) 4-6 Written by Jackie Robinson's daughter, this book contains nine sections, each focusing on one of nine values the ballplayer lived by (courage, determination, and so on). Each section contains a scene from the author's life, one from her father's (by various writers, including Robinson himself), and a sketch of one of her heroes. Fuzzy, blue-tinted photos illustrate the diffuse, though often moving, tribute.

Reviewer: Jack Forman