I am not a huge baseball fan, but my husband is, my father is and my brother is. Therefore I have grown up around baseball. I have been to the Hall of Fame many times, and I have been to and watched on TV countless numbers of baseball games. I have learned quite a bit along the way. I really enjoyed reading this book. I learned so much about history. It was fascinating to me, and I kept wanting to keep reading and keep reading even though it is much longer than you would expect a children's book to be. I think you don't even notice its long; it's like a really good movie. When its over and see what time it is, you cannot believe the movie was so long, because it just seemed to fly by while you were watching it.
I found some great information on the book on Kadir Nelson's website and at the website for We Are the Ship and I have added it below:
It took Kadir Nelson almost eight years to prepare and get this book together! He spent seven years researching, writing an oral narrative and creating handsome paintings with the intention of including them in the brilliantly illustrated tribute, “WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” which is dedicated to the preservation of the history of the Negro Baseball Leagues. With a helping hand from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas city, Nelson was able track down former Negro League players, interview them and piece together original stories to help color some of Negro League baseball's forgotten past. Nelson traveled to museums, and found old photographs to prepare. Using an "Everyman" player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.
**Traveling exhibit of the original paintings of We Are the Ship. Thirty-three paintings, thirteen sketches and educational materials from the book, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson. June 01, 2009 - January 27, 2013
http://wearetheship.com/
Genre: Historical non fiction
Theme/Skills: Students will learn about the history of Negro Baseball Leagues.
Grade Level: 2-6
Pre-reading Activity: Small group discussion: How many of you like baseball? Play baseball? Have seen a baseball game? Know something about baseball? Have you ever heard of the Negro League Baseball? What do you think this is?
Post-reading Activity: Students should write in their journal about what they got from the book. How did it make them feel? What did they learn?
Genre: Historical non fiction
Theme/Skills: Students will learn about the history of Negro Baseball Leagues.
Grade Level: 2-6
Pre-reading Activity: Small group discussion: How many of you like baseball? Play baseball? Have seen a baseball game? Know something about baseball? Have you ever heard of the Negro League Baseball? What do you think this is?
Post-reading Activity: Students should write in their journal about what they got from the book. How did it make them feel? What did they learn?
I have had the opportunity to read this book within a classroom and I really loved it. I was very surprised how the author could make something that is so uninteresting to me, baseball, intersting. This book is really a page-turner, I was left wanting more with each page and so were the second-grade students that I read this book to. Great selection!
ReplyDeleteI think its funny that you said you find baseball uninteresting, but the author made it interesting to you. That's exactly how I felt. Reading this book was a lot of fun. I felt like I was looking into a piece of history, not just listening to something about baseball.
ReplyDelete