Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 2^-4. The Satchel Paige story remains one of baseball's most resonant: the king of the Negro Leagues, Satchel pitched longer, threw harder, and struck out more batters than anyone in any league, black or white. His status as a mythic hero was only enhanced by his swagger, his Ali-like banter ("I'm gonna throw a pea at your knee"), and his imposing stature on the mound ("His foot looked to be about a mile long, and when he shot it into the air, it seemed to block out the sun"). Cline-Ransome plays up the mythic elements of the Paige story in her rollicking narrative, while Ransome's paintings jump off the page with bright colors and startling contrasts. His portraits of Paige, standing tall on the mound or finishing off another strikeout, capture the man's larger-than-life presence with great immediacy, the perfect complement to his wife's text. A Coretta Scott King Award winner for The Creation (1994), Ransome is equally at home with popular culture. Satchel Paige is a wonderful folk hero, triumphant but never pious, and this delightful picture book for older readers does a fine job of keeping his story alive for a new generation of young people. --Bill Ott
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
PW called this informal, anecdotal profile of the first black pitcher to play in the major leagues and the first black inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame "a fitting tribute to a baseball hero." Ages 6-10. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-"Some say Leroy Paige was born six feet three and a half inches tall, 180 pounds, wearing a size fourteen shoe. Not a bit of truth to it." So begins this unaffected biography of the first African-American pitcher to play major league baseball and the first black Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. Written with a storyteller's sense of rhythm and pacing, Paige's history will be best appreciated as a read-aloud. For example, describing life on the road, "From the first breath of spring till the cool rush of fall he would ride. Sometimes he joined his teammates on rickety old buses, bumping along on back roads studded with potholes so deep, players would have to hold on to their seats (and stomachs) just to keep from spilling into the aisles." Paige's frustration and anger with the limitations imposed on black players are mentioned, but emphasis is placed on his talents, popularity, and success. Ransome's rich oil illustrations establish a sense of time and place, reflecting the determination and excitement the man brought to the game. An obvious choice as a biography for younger readers and definitely of interest to baseball fans of all ages, this book is a worthy addition for any collection.-Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary, Intermediate) Legendary pitcher Leroy ""Satchel"" Paige spent more than twenty years wowing them in the Negro Leagues before finally being drafted, in 1948, as the first black pitcher in major league baseball. This picture-book biography captures the immensely talented and individualistic Satchel Paige to the life, seeming-thanks to Lesa Cline-Ransome's conversational prose and James Ransome's spectacle-filled pictures-barely able to contain the force of Paige's gift and personality. Cline-Ransome, for all her leisurely down-home style and sheer comfort in storytelling, nonetheless packs the text with valuable information about both Paige and the world of baseball. She includes plenty of baseball lore (such as Paige's legendary match-up with hitter Josh Gibson in the 1942 Negro World Series) and peppers the narrative with memorable Satchel sayings (the supremely confident Satchel to his outfield: ""Why don't you all have a seat. Won't be needing you on this one""). Unlike Satchel's fastball, the text wobbles a little here and there, with some awkward or unclear sentences and passages, but readers will easily shake that off in the overall enjoyment of watching Satchel Paige show his stuff. m.v.p. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
