Robert F. Sibert Medal
Baseball is my all-time favorite sport. I grew up hearing about famous baseball players, and even after I married family members would tell stories of watching Satchel Paige pitch. I knew about the Negro Leagues, but I didn’t really know the whole story. This book was the opportunity I had never had to understand the historical background of the time before the leagues integrated. Kadir Nelson uses a first person point of view (though it isn’t his own) to narrate the story through all nine innings and into extra innings (innings are equated to chapters in the book). Throughout the “game”, Nelson has interspersed oil paintings based on the game with as much historical detail as he could find. Double page spreads throughout draw the reader onto the field and directly into the game (I now can imagine what it must have been like to have a field view of Satchel Paige pitching to the mighty Josh Gibson.) There is even one double page spread of a ticket from the First Colored World Series which folds out full on each page to reveal a picture of both teams and owners in the series. However, Nelson’s talent isn’t in the illustrations alone. His writing highlights the effects the Negro Leagues had on the game from the inception of safety equipment (both catching gear and batting helmets were invented here) to the increased game pace which drew in the crowds. I can’t wait to share this book with my students; it is a book with I anticipate will stay checked out this upcoming year!
Nelson, K. (2008). We are the ship: the story of negro league baseball. New York: Hyperion.
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