Baseball is America’s pastime — even for nocturnal animals like bats! As in the other books about these engaging creatures, the fun is seeing them wear baseball togs as they prepare for and play the game. Rhyming text and realistic illustrations highlight spectators and players.
Bats at the Ballgame
Tillie Anderson emigrated to the U.S. from Sweden with a sewing needle and a strong sense of what might be. During the 1890s, Tillie trained and became a winning bicycle racer — using her tailoring skills to make more suitable racing outfits! Lighthearted illustrations and informal text tell Tillie’s memorable tale.
Tillie the Terrible Swede
Effa Manley, born when jazz was new and sports were segregated, was passionate about fairness and baseball. She was to become the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame along with players from the Negro Baseball League. Her life is presented in stylized illustration and clear text, for an intriguing portrait of a person and a time.
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story
The narrator tells of a winter run with a team of dogs. Lush illustrations depict the animals’ anticipation and pleasure on the snow-filled night.
Dogteam
What can be more fun than playing in the snow with mom and dad? Coming home to a warm up with grandma! In his signature style, Hill’s spotted puppy in the snow is sure to surprise and satisfy the youngest child.
Spot’s Snowy Day
The entire family awaits the huge overnight snowfall predicted, dreaming of what they’ll do in it. They find a surprise when wake up, however: no snow! Realistic illustrations heighten the anticipation and make the resolution even more plausible — and understandable!
Snow Day!
The conditions are just right for sledding after the snow-filled night as the two young pups find out. The lighthearted illustrations and simple text convey the joy of playing out in the snow on a cold, crisp winter day.
Snow! Snow! Snow!
Madlenka dreams of being a soccer star in this third book about the city-dwelling girl. She leaves home in her soccer togs playing imaginary games until she’s joined by one friend and then a team full of children. A note about soccer history concludes the book.
Madlenka Soccer Star
Short and round, Gunner Smith didn’t look like a football player but he practiced hard enough to make third-string quarterback on his town’s Pee Wee team. Gunner gets his chance to use his arm in the championship game in this bright tale with a surprise ending.
Gunner, Football Hero
Bill Key, born a slave, overcame many obstacles to become a veterinarian and a businessman. Key’s horse, Jim, was eventually recognized as the world’s smartest horse and accompanied Key in his work with the Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This fascinating story is based in truth.
Wonder Horse: The True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse
Lush, realistic illustrations combine with a simple text to suggest what it must have been like when the pioneering Jackie Robinson played ball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Additional factual information is included in what is made to look like baseball cards on each page. The result is a handsome book that can be appreciated by different ages.
Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson Against the Odds
Katie Casey follows her passion for baseball and winds up playing for one of the professional girls’ teams — and wins. The little known opening of a well-known tune, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” inspired this fictionalized look at the professional all-girls baseball league that thrived during World War II.
Players in Pigtails
Ted Williams never flinched at hard work or a challenge. In his last season with the Boston Red Sox, Williams had to decide if he wanted to take the chance and lose his rare .400 average or go to bat. Williams’ decision creates a riveting read in this handsome and thoughtful look at one man’s ethics and the times in which he lived.
No Easy Way: The Story of Ted Williams and the Last .400 Season
The basic rules and equipment of baseball are introduced in simple words and straightforward illustrations. Those interested in the nitty-gritty of the game will appreciate this practical presentation.
My Baseball Book
A baseball encourages a boy to play the game, to enjoy the sounds, excitement, and camaraderie of the game. The short, rhyming text is accompanied by humorous illustrations for a playful look at baseball for younger children.
Let’s Play Baseball
There were always discoveries to be made in their grandmother’s attic; and Gee always had a story to go along with it. On this visit, the cousins find an autographed baseball that leads to a story about the Negro Baseball League and its stars, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. Exciting, predictable, and well-paced, this is sure to appeal to children.
Home-Run King
She seemed born to pitch when growing up in a small Ohio town and pitch she did at a time when women only wore skirts or dresses. Stylized illustrations combine with the fictionalized voice of Alta Weiss to present a memorable glimpse of early baseball, one young woman’s passion for the game, and a quick look at women in the sport.
Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings
Comic illustrations effectively combine with a straightforward text to bring baseball terms to life. From A (“Ace. The best pitcher on the team…”) to Z (“Strike Zone. To be in the strike zone, a pitch must be…”) the alphabet is a device used to introduce all things baseball, likely to be appreciated by even young aficionados.
Baseball from A to Z
The baseball card of “…the bandy-legged son of German immigrants” sold for almost three million dollars in 2007. Honus Wagner was an all-around player who could hit, run, and play shortstop equally well. Highlights of his life and some of the myths that swirled up around him are presented in evocative, energetic text and handsome paintings.
All Star! Honus Wagner & the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever
Did you know that as a boy, Pelé played soccer in bare feet with a grapefruit instead of a soccer ball? Monica Brown shares the inspirational story of the beloved soccer star’s rise from humble beginnings to becoming El rey del fútbol. Rudy Gutiérrez’s brilliant and fluid illustrations of Pelé and “the beautiful game” of soccer leap off the page. Bilingual text. Curriculum guide (opens in a new window) available.
Pelé: King of Soccer / Pele, El rey del futbol
This heart-tugging picture book from a debut author tells a lyrical soccer story in the voice of a young boy in a South African shantytown. In full-page oil paintings, unusual angles intensify the sense of the scuffling, exciting action, the tense confrontation, and the reality of shantytown life.
Goal!
Ethan Zohn is a professional soccer player, philanthropist, and lecturer. Through his series of international Soccer World books, Zohn shares ways that soccer can be used as a “common language” across cultures. In this edition, Zohn makes his way through South Africa, and takes readers from wildlife preserves to giant soccer stadiums.
South Africa: Explore the World Through Soccer
Arthur John Johnson became known as Black Jack, the world’s first black heavyweight champion and one of the best known boxers of the 20th century. Readers meet him through a rhythmic text and bold illustrations that present a clever, hardworking, and confident man. The book is published just in time to commemorate the anniversary of historic fight, July 4, 1910.
Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson
Not only did Annette Kellerman learn to walk better when her father taught her how to swim, she learned to make waves! Women weren’t athletes in the early 20th century, but this Australian woman not only attempted swimming the English Channel, she invented water ballet and the modern bathing suit for women. Splashy illustrations combine with an engaging narration in this unusual look at a fabulous female.