The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
	The Bulletin Dozen is a monthly theme-based booklist available as an online-only Bulletin feature. Since we're awfully fond of bakers here at the Bulletin, we thought we'd adopt their philosophy of generosity and throw in an extra one or two when we have them to offer--so don't expect an even dozen. Please feel free to copy, download, or link to these lists. We ask only that you cite the source. See the archive for lists from previous months.
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Play Ball!: A Baseball Dozen --selected by Cindy Welch Spring has sprung, and players of all ages, all over the country, are heading toward the green, green grass of home plate. Here’s a dozens list featuring players of all kinds and in all genres, so there’s something here about the Great American pastime of baseball for every fan. Play ball!

• Bildner, Phil. Playing the Field; illus. by C.F. Payne. Simon, 2006. Gr. 9-12
  Darcy has the goods to pitch on the boys' high school baseball team but what she has to do to get on the field makes for quite an "outing." (BCCB 4/06)

• Bildner, Phil. The Shot Heard 'round the World;illus. by C.F. Payne. Simon, 2005. 6-10 yrs
  Baseball fever holds 1951 Brooklyn in its grip as "dem bums", the Brooklyn Dodgers, try to reach the World Series. (BCCB 5/05)

• Hopkinson, Deborah. Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings; illus by Terry Widener. Schwartz/Atheneum, 2003. 5-8 yrs
  In 1907, seventeen-year-old Alta Weiss pitches her way onto the semipro Vermilion Independents baseball team. (BCCB 2/03)

• Isadora, Rachel. Nick Plays Baseball;written and illus. by Rachel Isadora. Putnam, 2001. 5-8 yrs
  Plenty of tips for becoming a better player are packed into this picture book about Nick and his team preparing for the championship game. (BCCB 2/01)

• Jennings, Patrick. . Out Standing in My Field. Scholastic, 2005. Gr. 4-6
  Fifth-grader Ty Cutter hates baseball as much as baseball hates him, so why can't he convince his dad – the coach – to kick him off the team? (BCCB 3/05)

• Johnson, Angela. Just Like Josh Gibson; illus. by Beth Peck. Simon, 2004. 5-8 yrs
  Both race and gender keep Grandmama from playing baseball in the 1940s, until one day her brother is benched with a broken arm and she steps up to the challenge. (BCCB 3/04)

• Koertge, Ron. Shakespeare Bats Cleanup; Candlewick, 2003. Gr. 6-9
  Banished from the diamond with mono, Kevin is surprised to find that the writing of poetry offers some of the same satisfactions as baseball in this free-verse novel. (BCCB 7/03)

• Lorbiecki, Marybeth. Jackie's Bat; illus. by Brian Pinkney. Simon, 2006. 7-10 yrs
  The Brooklyn Dodger's newest bat boy watches as the newest player, African American Jackie Robinson, is tested on and off the field. (BCCB 2/06)

• Lipsyte, Robert. Heroes of Baseball: The Men Who Made it America's Favorite Game.Atheneum, 2006. Gr. 5-8
  Ty Cobb, Roberto Clemente and Curt Flood are just a few of the heroes whose talents and personalities made baseball popular with the American public. (BCCB 5/06)

• Madison, Alan. Pecorino Plays Ball;illus. by AnnaLaura Cantone. Schwartz/Atheneum, 2006. 4-8 yrs
  Today is Pecorino Sasquatch's first day of Little League, and everyone seems to think he already knows how to hit, throw and catch a ball. (BCCB 3/06)

• Raven, Margot Theis. Let Them Play;illus. by Chris Ellison. Sleeping Bear, 2005. Gr. 3-5
  The African American boys of the 1955 Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars went to the Little League Baseball World Series but, despite the wishes of the crowd, they never got to play.(BCCB 2/06)
  
• Ritter, John H. The Boy Who Loved Baseball.Philomel, 2003. Gr. 5-8. 4-8 yrs
  A baseball game is all that stands between Dillontown's famous and beloved Lucky Strike ballpark and a land developer threatening to turn it into a golf course. (BCCB 7/03)

• Robinson, Sharon. Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America.Scholastic, 2004. Gr. 4-8
  An inside look at the life of the man who broke the color barrier in major league baseball, and who was considered to be a gentlemen off the field as well as on it. (BCCB 4/04)
  
• Shaughnessy, Dan. The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino; illus. by C.F. Payne. Wiseman/Simon, 2005. Gr. 2-5
  One of baseball's great stories is shared by Kate and her dad as they sit in the Fenway Park bleachers, right where Kate's grandfather watched Babe Ruth play ball. (BCCB 5/05)
  
• Tocher, Timothy. Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me.Cricket, 2004. Gr. 5-8
  Fifteen-year-old Hank hops a freight train without his abusive father and finds adventure, baseball and some temporary semblance of family with the mysterious Chief Sunrise. (BCCB 7/04)
  
• Winter, Jonah. ¡Béisbol!: Latino Baseball Pioneers and Legends; written and illus. by Jonah Winter Lee & Low, 2001. Gr. 3-5
  Baseball fans will enjoy the stats, baseball card-style photos, and brief biographies of these fourteen Latin-American players from the game's early days. (BCCB 10/01)
  

This page was last updated on May 1, 2006.

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