I told you about this book a few months ago already, but since it just won the Coretta Scott King Award, I thought I would show it to you again. It is great words and great pictures together -the perfect book!

I’m not really into baseball very much and I loved this book! It is the story of Negro League baseball. Did you know that there was a league in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s for African-American players because they were not allowed to play in the Major Leagues? This book is the story of those players and the league they made great that only came to an end when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League baseball. The story is told like you are listening to an old player remember. The narrator tells about how the league was formed, who the owners, managers and players were…but more. The narrator doesn’t just list the facts. There are many sad, surprising, horrifying, funny & interesting stories about the players and what they endured to play baseball. On top of that, the pictures in the book are astounding! The author/artist, Kadir Nelson, did a lot of reasearch to get the ballparks and players, uniforms and other details just right. It is like looking at painted photos from someone who was actually there. This is a good one. Don’t miss it. Author: Kadir Nelson

• Watch a Video Interview with Kadir Nelson
• Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Negro Leagues History
• Negro Leage Baseball Players Association
• The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum: Negro League Players
• Negro League Baseball: the Indianapolis Clowns (And who played for them? None other than Hank Aaron…who writes a great foreword to this book. Aaron says, “I know that I wouldn’t have made it in baseball had these legends not paved the way for me.”