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Parents' Guide to

Baseball Is...

By Regan McMahon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Ode to America's pastime hits it out of the park.

Book Louise Borden Sports 2014
Baseball Is... Poster Image

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Is It Any Good?

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This is a wonderful ode to America's pastime told in spare, poetic text and textured colored pencil and watercolor illustrations. There's action in the stands, as vendors hawk their snacks and souvenirs, fans cheer and sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and a kid catches a ball in his gloved hand. The spare, poetic text turns lists of elements such as the lineup, innings, plays (the bunt, steal, walk, RBI, error, pop fly, grand slam), and balls (fastball, curve ball, knuckle ball, slider) into evocative collective memory.

Raúl Colón's warm illustrations capture the love of the game, the emotion of the shared experience, and the joy of watching a game where anything can happen at any given moment. Author Louise Borden notes, "It's a game of seconds, / and minutes / and hours... / and it's a game never stopped by a clock."

Book Details

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