WE ARE THE SHIP: THE STORY OF NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL by Kadir Nelson (Hyperion)
"We look back and wonder, 'How did we do all that?' It's simple. We loved the game so much, we just looked past everything else. We were ballplayers. There was nothing we would have rather spent our time doing."
Imagine that you are child in the box seats of the great baseball game of history, and sitting right beside you, giving the play-by play, is a man who had been around the block and around the bases of the Negro leagues of the early 20th century, a man who wanted to whisper to you all the secrets, truths and legends of his day before it fades past memory; imagine that can really happen, that such a gift can be given, and you have a sense of the spell cast by this formidable book. The dust is stirred, the crowd is heard, and the crack of the bat and the sting of the mitt sings, sings, sings in these pages. Via first-person voice (which takes a little getting used to, but then becomes incomparably warm and confiding), readers discover a parallel sports universe, a dream manifested by some powerhouse business visionaries who created a league of their own, with rules that bent (six foot curve balls, sharpened spikes for sliding, umpires chased over center-field fences?!) and heroes that were larger than life. 
Descriptive and well-researched chapters celebrate the greats, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and beyond, and allow us to travel across the country with them as far as the Jim Crow flies, across the border to Cuba, and then, so bravely across the color line. Stoic painted portraits capture the serene beauty and almost loneliness of the field, the power of every sinewy muscle of the bat-swinging, ball-throwing arms, the dignity of every set jaw, and a double-page fold-out group portrait of the "First Colored World Series" will take. Your breath. Away. Nelson managed to match if not out-do the stirring visual tribute he gave in Ntozake Shange's ELLINGTON WAS NOT A STREET, and proved that his pen is as mighty as his brush. (And that's pretty mighty!)
A grand slam of sports history, African American history and All-American history, it's sure to sweep the ALA awards series and is the perfect gift for any baseball fan, but even more than that, it contains a piece of America that every child deserves to know. (8 and up)
Descriptive and well-researched chapters celebrate the greats, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and beyond, and allow us to travel across the country with them as far as the Jim Crow flies, across the border to Cuba, and then, so bravely across the color line. Stoic painted portraits capture the serene beauty and almost loneliness of the field, the power of every sinewy muscle of the bat-swinging, ball-throwing arms, the dignity of every set jaw, and a double-page fold-out group portrait of the "First Colored World Series" will take. Your breath. Away. Nelson managed to match if not out-do the stirring visual tribute he gave in Ntozake Shange's ELLINGTON WAS NOT A STREET, and proved that his pen is as mighty as his brush. (And that's pretty mighty!)A grand slam of sports history, African American history and All-American history, it's sure to sweep the ALA awards series and is the perfect gift for any baseball fan, but even more than that, it contains a piece of America that every child deserves to know. (8 and up)
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