In my opinion, this book is a great book to teach students about the history of baseball and how segregation was apparent during the creation of the Major-League Baseball.
Let me just start off by saying I love the overall theme of this book. The book’s illustrations make it seem like the story takes place in the 1940s because they have a faded medium. A lot of warm, deep, dark colors are used in this book while the author adds bright colors to the focal point on each page. The plot of the story introduces the characters then poses a conflict, afterwards draws suspense to its readers. At the end, a glimmer of hope shines to its readers when two baseball players, a white player and a black player, shake hands. I think the way the author organized the story is a great way to engage readers. He also makes the characters and plot believable. This book would be appealing to students with different interests. For example, some students who love baseball or the Chicago Cubs, sports, who ones who enjoy reading about history. Young readers who have no prior knowledge of segregation will see this as story about the love of baseball. A teacher would be able to use this book to introduce the topic of segregation.
Cooper tries to convey to his readers that if you follow your dreams, anything is possible in this. I believe he also wants to educate his young readers on how it felt when segregation was prevalent. Cooper pushes his readers to think about tough issues and broadens perspectives. ( )

This book is about a young boy in the 1942 who dreams of being in the Major Leagues, but is devastated when he learns that he cannot because he is an African American. He learns about how the players in the Negro League are not allowed to play in the Major League, no matter how good they are. With dreams crushed, Willie is given two tickets by Ol' Ezra to the exhibition game between the Negro League and the Major League All-Stars at Wrigley Field! At the end of the game, the Negro League wins and giving Willie hope for the future, he sees a black and white player from opposing teams nod to one another and shake hands. I liked this book for several reasons. First, I like the books main idea of hope for minorities and change for African Americans. Although we know that the color ban is lifted later, it gives insight to how children of color must have felt then to not be allowed to pursue their dreams because of the color of their skin. I also liked this book because of the way the baseball players were presented to the reader by Ol' Ezra. For example, he explains to Willie that just because you are a great baseball player, doesn’t mean that you can play in the Major Leagues, it depends on your color. Knowing some baseball history and of the Negro League players like Satchel Page, it saddens me that this happened and it lets the reader know that these players may have been just as good or better than some the famous ball players we know of today, but they never had the chance to prove it. ( )

This books saving grace is it's illustrations. Such feeling and depth is depicted in each page, yet the text falls flat. I know the book got a starred review in Kirkus, so maybe I'm missing something! I did like the story, and the idea of the story (A little boy getting to see the Negro Leaguers), but the text seemed choppy and didn't flow easily from page to page. Do check it out though! The oil paintings are gorgeous. ( )

This book is set in the 1940's when all they had was radios to listen to the baseball games. Willie always dreamed of being a major league player. One day he heard the old men of the neighborhood talking about baseball players he had never heard of. The old men told Willie that they played in the negro league and that does not make it to the radio. A couple of days later the old man gave Willie a couple of tickets to go to Wrigley Field to see the major league against the negro league. The negro league won and after the game a white player and a black player shook hands on the pitcher mound. Willie was so proud to be there. This would be a great book to read when you teaching the history of the 1940's. ( )

The book had to protagonists one black,one white and they loved baseball.It just so happened they got tickets and were able to see a black baseball league play. The illustrations were great and is worth the read. ( )