Words by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Illustrated by Christopher Bing
Chronicle Books LLC, 2000
Genre: Children's Fiction; poetry
Reading Level: ages 8-12
32 pages
This unique children's book centered around a poem written in 1888 by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, a San Franciscan reporter, in his article in the San Francisco Examiner. It quickly took its place as an American ballad always remembered. The poem is about one particular baseball game where the favorite player of the crowd ends up striking out after his teammates succeed, and it is very sad. The story though it is obviously poem reads like a book when broken up like it is. For example the famous last line is, "Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light. And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; but there is no joy in Mudville-mighty Casey has struck out." The illustrator of this particular version was very creative and set up the picture book as if it is a recently discovered baseball scrapbook filled with news articles and other memorabilia relating to baseball.
I would recommend this to a child who enjoys baseball and other sports.
I don't think there is any conflict that could come up when reading this book.
I really enjoyed this book, i thought it was a creative portrayal of the famous ballad. I enjoyed reading the little side notes, and looking at the drawings. I'm not sure how much a child would enjoy it, if they didn't like sports.
My rating: 3 out of 5
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