My First Book of Baseball: A Rookie Book

Product Description My First Book of Baseball, the second Rookie Book from Sports Illustrated Kids, coaches young kids through the game of baseball with a visual retelling of an actual MLB game--from the first pitch to the game winning hit! Strikes, outs, steals, foul balls, home runs and more are all explained using a fun mix of Sports Illustrated action photography, simple text with engaging graphics, and a full glossary of essential baseball terms and phrases. An illustrated rookie player character also appears on every page, providing fun facts to help the next generation of fans better understand the game. Perfect for beginning readers, My First Book of Baseball is meant to be a shared reading experience between parents and their young minor league rookies before, during, and after the ball game. From School Library Journal PreS-Gr 1—Introductory books on baseball for young children are perennial favorites, and this one is a fine addition. Each page features an aspect of a game as it is being played. A small cartoon character of a young boy in the corner provides humorous commentary about the players and the action. The book begins with a brief explanation of teams, players, and innings. With photos of a variety of players representing the various major league teams, the pages are bright, colorful, and inviting. In subsequent pages, readers are taken on a journey through an entire game and learn about batters, pitchers, strike zones, runs, walks, balls, and more. Each important term is presented in large capital letters. There are other good informational books on baseball for this grade range, such as Robin Nelson's Baseball Is Fun and Kyle McClellan's Baseball, which offer necessary reviews of the sport, but the format here is more engaging and certainly more entertaining. There is no glossary, but one is not needed as the definitions are given as part of the narrative. VERDICT While there are other suitable introductory books on baseball for youngsters, readers will find the presentation of information enjoyable. Libraries would do well to add this option to their collections.—Margaret Nunes, Gwinnett County Public Library, GA Review "A nice primer to get your youngster interested in the game. You can read it to your three-year-old, or your six-year-old can enjoy it solo."- Baseball Musings  "This is a great book for the early, young readers who are just learning the basics of baseball. The format of having the reader go through an actual game is genius; I could really picture this being used in conjunction with a child's first baseball game. It's fun to read aloud adult to child, or-thanks to simple words and big lettering-a book kids can tackle on their own."- Literary Hoots  "While there are other suitable introductory books on baseball for youngsters, readers will find the presentation of information [in My First Book of Baseball] enjoyable, more engaging and certainly more entertaining. Libraries would do well to add this option to their collections." - School Library Journal "Perfect for the preschool set, this is a gorgeous picture book that explains the basics of baseball with simple text and vibrant photos." - Imagination Soup