August Recommendations for Kids - Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Fiction

Roasted Peanuts by Tim Egan - Best friends Jackson the cat and Sam the horse try out for the baseball team, to their dismay Jackson does not make the team. Although Jackson is the slowest cat anyone has ever seen, he has an amazing throw. All ends well, and with engaging humor, Jackson takes a job as a peanut vendor.

Baseball Great by Tim Green - Twelve year old baseball star Josh feels trapped by his father's failed dreams to play major league baseball. Josh’s father has him try out for the Titans, a winning team riddled with questionable supplements and steroids. Will this team provide Josh the exposure he needs, and at what personal cost?

Top of the Order by John Coy - The Panthers have no one to cover second base except Sydney, who arrives with a pink baseball glove to the horror of her brother who is the team’s pitcher. Each team member faces challenges in their lives, but share a love of baseball and a desire to win.

The Desperado who Stole Baseball by John H. Ritter - In 1881, the scrappy, rough-and-tumble baseball team in a California mining town enlists the help of a quick-witted twelve-year-old orphan and the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid to win a big game against the National League Champion Chicago White Stockings.

The Girl who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane - Following the recent accidental death of her father, Molly works through her grief and deals with her withdrawn mother by turning to baseball. Her father loved baseball and taught her to throw a knuckleball, a pitch which flutters like a butterfly. In spite of resistance, she is determined to try out for the boys baseball team.


Nonfiction

The Story of the Los Angeles Dodgers by John Nichols - Los Angeles has many attractions, and the Los Angels Dodgers of Major League baseball claims the honor of being its first franchise. The Dodgers are one of the oldest teams in the game, and joined the National League as a team in Brooklyn, New York. Fans walking to the ballpark darted across the busy trolley tracks in Brooklyn, dodging the streetcars, thus the local writers nicknamed the team the “Trolley Dodgers” which was later shortened to the Dodgers.

The Story of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by Sara Gilbert - The original Angeles team began in Los Angeles in 1961 when Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, was awarded an American league expansion team; he remained its sole owner for more than 30 years. Some of the most famous players are profiled, among them Troy Glaus, Reggie Jackson, and the rally monkey! Also in this series is The Story of the San Francisco Giants by Adele Richardson.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson -

"We are the ship; all else the sea."-Rube Foster, founder of the Negro National League.

Negro League baseball is the story of exceptional athletes, resolute owners, discrimination, and sportsmanship. It is the story of extraordinary players who overcame segregation, hatred, deplorable conditions, and low pay to pursue their dream of playing baseball. Comprised of nine chapters (“innings”), with a foreword by Hank Aaron, this traces the League from its inception in the 1920s through its decline after Jackie Robinson left in the late 1940s. Anecdotes regarding legendary Satchel Paige and the knife-weilding umpire, Bullet Rogan along with excellent illustrations, bring this history to life.

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax? by Jonah Winter - A picture book biography of Sandy Koufax, arguably the greatest left-handed basesball pitcher of all. He started with basketball, began playing baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and had an amazing career when he learned to tame his pitches after the team moved to Los Angeles.