Ballpark: The Story of America's Baseball Fields

It's Still Baseball Season 



Curlee, Lynn. Ballpark: The Story of America's Baseball Fields. New York: Atheneum, 2005. 

As Curlee's exquisite drawings illustrate many of the baseball parks that live in the legends of the game, he also discusses how changes in the location and design of these parks reflect changes in the social structure of the country. Early parks such as Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and Wrigley Field on the north side of Chicago were wedged into city neighborhoods and became part of that neighborhood's identity. They were accessible by subway, bus, and foot. As populations moved out of the cities and into the suburbs, so did ballparks like the Astrodome in Houston, surrounded by vast parking lots and accessible only by car. Then in the 1990s came a new trend, a reversal back to the city and back to the style of the older parks,with the addition of modern facilities. Baltimore's Camden Yards is a prime example. Viewing the game through the physical structures in which it is played offers a different perspective on the ways in which baseball both reflects and influences our cultural experience. 

In Defense of Liberty

Living History 

Freedman, Russell. In Defense of Liberty: the Story of America's Bill of Rights.  New York: Holiday House, 2003.

Freedman opens his discussion of the Bill of Rights by listing a few questions that spark heated debates in 21st century America. Can school children be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance? Can a rap group be prosecuted for using "obscene" lyrics. He then goes back in time to discuss the reasons that the framers of the Constitution believed they needed to add amendments that specifically stated the rights of citizens. In each succeeding chapter, he examines one of the amendments, discussing the various interpretations of that amendment over time, and describing a few of the cases that have been brought before the courts and decided on the basis of that amendment. His clear and compelling discussions remind us that these ten amendments to our Constitution, written more than 200 years ago, remain vital to our democracy today. This book offers the best civics lesson I've ever had.  

The Long March

A Tale of Two Cultures

Fitzpatrick, Marie-Louise. The Long March: The Choctaw's Gift to Irish Famine Relief. Illustrated by the author. Choctaw editing and foreword by Gary WhiteDeer. Hillsboro, Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., 1998.

This book tells two intertwining stories. Tom, an elder member of the Choctaw nation, recalls a time in 1847, when he was a 14-year old youth and all the members of his tribe were called together to hear the latest news of their people. Among the stories told at that gathering was the story of a great famine in a far-away land called Ireland. The young Tom, who was called Choona in his youth, was perplexed. What did a famine in an unknown land have to do with the Choctaw nation? 

Then his great-grandmother rose within the meeting to retell the story of "The Long March," when the Choctaw peoples were forcibly removed from their homelands in the southeastern United States and made to march to "Indian Territory," now part of the state of Oklahoma. For many, it was a death march. Choona had been only vaguely aware of that story from his tribe's distant and misty past. His great-grandmother thought it necessary for each generation to know that story and to see its connection to the stories of other displaced persons. As she saw it, "their story is our story."

The Choctaw nation collected $170, more than $6,000 in today's currency, and sent it to an Irish famine relief agency. 

Marie-Louise Fitzgerald, the writer and illustrator of this book, traveled from her native Ireland to Oklahoma to work with Gary WhiteDeer, a Choctaw, to research the story for this book. According to information on the book's jacket, the project was supported by CAIT, Celts and American Indians Together, a bi-national organization that raises money for World Famine Relief. CAIT is headquartered at Iona College in New Rochelle New York.  

Note: I tried to research CAIT on the Internet, but was unable to find any current information. 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/long-march-the-choctaws-gift-to-irish-famine-relief/oclc/812206335&referer=brief_results

William Butler Yeats

In recognition of Bloomsday, June 16

Allison, Jonathan, ed. William Butler Yeats. Series title: Poetry for Young People. Illustrated by Glenn Harrington. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2002. 

The Irish poet William Butler Yeats remains one of the most admired and often quoted poets of the last century. In his introduction to each poem, editor Allison recalls the mystical traditions of Ireland and also explains the historical context in which the poem was written. Illustrator Harrington's paintings help readers to envision the haunting beauty of Ireland, so deftly evoked by the poet's words. 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/poetry-for-young-people-william-butler-yeats/oclc/329858974&referer=brief_results


  

The Flag with Fifty-Six Stars

In honor of Flag Day

Rubin, Susan Goldman. The Flag with Fifty-Six Stars: A Gift from the Survivors of Mauthausen. Illustrations by Bill Farnsworth. New York: Holiday House, 2005.

Having heard, on their jury-rigged radios, of the advancing American army, and having watched their German captors flee, the prisoners in the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen decided to welcome their liberators with an American flag made from whatever scraps of material they had at hand. Not knowing the number of stars to put on the flag, they guessed 56. When the Americans arrived, the prisoners gave the astonished commander a gift of the flag. Together, the prisoners and soldiers raised the flag over the camp. That flag now resides in the Simon Wiesenthal Museum in Los Angeles.  

http://www.worldcat.org/title/flag-with-fifty-six-stars-a-fift-from-the-survivors-of-mauthausen/oclc/962196233&referer=brief_results

Fannie Never Flinched

To Celebrate Workers on May Day

Farrell, Mary Cronk. Fannie Never Flinched: One Woman's Courage in the Struggle for American Labor Union Rights. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2016.

Author Farrell has added a forgotten name to the list of champions of the rights of workers. Fannie Sellins was a widowed mother of four when she went to work in a garment factory in St. Louis at the turn of the 20^th century. Along with her co-workers, mostly immigrants, she endured difficult and dangerous working environments, including foul air, locked doorways, low wages, and long hours, conditions not unlike those that exist today in sweatshops around the world. In 1902, Fannie and her colleagues started a local chapter of the United Garment Workers of America. They organized several strikes, experiencing both success and failure in their struggle for better working conditions. When Fannie was elected president of her local union, she began traveling to other cities and towns supporting other workers, including the coal miners of Pennsylvania. Fannie knew she was a target of the owners and moneyed interests of the coal industry, but, despite the violence of their labor disputes, she “never flinched.” In August, 1919, leading a strike near Pittsburg PA, she was shot. Her killers were brought to trial, but were exonerated, their actions described as “justifiable homicide,” despite witnesses’ accounts to the contrary. Today, a statue of Fannie Sellins stands in Arnold PA, commemorating her courageous struggle on behalf of American workers.

        

Photos from the time, newspaper clippings, a timeline of important events in labor history, a glossary, and a long list of references at the end of this book not only illustrate the fascinating story of Fannie Sellins, they also provide an excellent example of the level of research that goes into a book such as this. Though written for children, it is a story we can all learn from. 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/fannie-never-flinched-one-womans-courage-in-the-struggle-for-american-labor-union-rights/oclc/927241441&referer=brief_results

Two in Honor of Earth Day

Next Stop Neptune



Jenkins, Alvin. Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Author Jenkins is an astronomer and physicist. Illustrator Jenkins is his artist son. Together they have created a display of the solar system that explains many facts even as it presents the known universe in all its wondrous mystery. Each page features an illustration of a planet, moon, comet or asteroid, along with insets that provide pertinent facts and figures. Readers can peruse one page to find the answers to specific questions - for example, how far is the earth from the sun. Or they can extrapolate from the given information to ask their own questions - such as how much would you weigh on the moon. 

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95




Hoose, Philip. Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2012.

B95 is a bird, a most extraordinary bird.  A rufa red knot, it flies each year from Tierra Del Fuego, at the southern end of the globe, all the way north to the Canadian Arctic - and back! That's roughly 9,000 miles twice a year. It is called a "moonbird" because in its lifetime it can fly the distance to the moon and back. Unfortunately, the breeding grounds for this bird are being depleted by both human development and climate change. As of 2014, rufa red knots were placed on the endangered species list, so their populations are being monitored. Whether or not they can be saved is another question. 

     In addition to beautiful photographs, each page of this book offers scientific information about the bird, its remarkable body structure, and its habitats. The book also profiles the work of some of the scientists and environmentalists working to save the species. Finally, an appendix, "What You Can Do," suggests activities and organizations for young people interested in birding and in the problems of dwindling habitat that so many wildlife species face.