What a beautifully illustrated book about the negro baseball league. The images, drawings, were my favorite. The double page spread that looked like a ticket to one of their baseball games unfolded into a whole line up of players with their names. The language of the book was easy to understand, even though there was a lot written, so children could still enjoy the book alone. The beginning of the book, the foreword, was written by Hank Aaron and I couldn’t help but laugh seeing that he played for the Braves and my son plays for the Braves in T-ball (my connection as a woman who knows very little about baseball). This was a wonderful story to share with my son who is all about the game. Although he is only five, he could identify with this book through the love of the game of baseball and he enjoyed the pictures as much as I did. History doesn’t have to be boring-it can be fun and exciting and parallel to current times with the right kind of words.

Click on the image to visit the author’s Amazon page to find more books written by Nelson (he has some other wonderfully written books).

Nelson, Kadir (2008). We are the ship. New York, NY: Hyperion.