Mama Played Baseball [Hardcover]

David A. Adler (Author), Chris O'Leary (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Amy's dad is away, fighting in World War II, and her mama must take a job. But it's no ordinary job--Amy's mother becomes a baseball player in the first professional women's league! Amy cheers louder than anyone at all of the home games. And while Mama's team travels, Amy works on a secret project--a surprise for her dad when he is finally back home.
With warmhearted, historically based text and lush illustrations, award-winning author David A. Adler and talented new artist Chris O'Leary bring to life the soaring spirit of the 1940s. Featured in the major motion picture A League of Their Own, the All-American Girls Professional League helped women prove that no war could stop the great game of baseball.
An author's note provides historical context for the era.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-While Amy's father is fighting in World War II, her mother gets an unusual job to make ends meet: she becomes a professional baseball player. Though at first the girl wonders, "What kind of job is that?" she enthusiastically roots for Mama during games and helps her practice when she can. Amy narrates the story in direct and simple sentences, focusing on the events that affect her and her family. Adler provides basic historical background in an author's note, but appropriately sticks to the child's perspective in this heartfelt narrative. Full-page oil paintings evoke the time and place. Figures and faces stand out nicely against the comfortable olive and brown tones in the background. Broad neighborhood and crowd scenes alternate with closer views of individuals. After a successful season, Mama dresses for a game but takes her daughter to the bus station instead of the stadium where they meet Dad, his uniform as impressive as Mama's. Amy's surprise for her father turns out to be her own drawings of Mama playing baseball. The revelation is not especially dramatic, but it fits just right with the warm mood of the story. The final painting focuses on the three family members enjoying the peace of home.
Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Adler (The Babe and I; Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man) heads back to the ballpark for this tale of a girl whose mother makes it into a women's pro baseball league during WWII. "While Dad's away, I need to work," Mama tells Amy, who wonders, "What kind of job is that?" In fact, Mama needs Amy's help to practice for the tryouts (they play catch). Adler includes such period details as mentions of war news and The Jack Benny Show on the radio, but unlike the subjects of his picture book biographies, the characters here never take on much dimension. An evening with Amy and her grandparents gathered around the Sunday dinner table seems designed only to demonstrate her grandfather's memory loss ("You told Amy last night about the war and your medal," his wife says. "Well, I did fight and I did win a medal," Grandpa replies). Scenes of Mama trying out and bringing home her uniform (a fetching pink number) liven up the proceedings, and readers unfamiliar with the start of the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League (explained in an endnote) may well find this story satisfying, especially when Amy's soldier father comes home at the end. The high point here is the work of debut artist O'Leary, whose sinewy artistic style recalls Depression-era murals. The physicality of his oil paintings, rendered in subtle earth tones, energize the action on the baseball diamond and are equally effective in conveying warmly lit interior scenes. Ages 5-8. (Mar.) (Publishers Weekly )

Kindergarten-Grade 3-While Amy's father is fighting in World War II, her mother gets an unusual job to make ends meet: she becomes a professional baseball player. Though at first the girl wonders, "What kind of job is that?" she enthusiastically roots for Mama during games and helps her practice when she can. Amy narrates the story in direct and simple sentences, focusing on the events that affect her and her family. Adler provides basic historical background in an author's note, but appropriately sticks to the child's perspective in this heartfelt narrative. Full-page oil paintings evoke the time and place. Figures and faces stand out nicely against the comfortable olive and brown tones in the background. Broad neighborhood and crowd scenes alternate with closer views of individuals. After a successful season, Mama dresses for a game but takes her daughter to the bus station instead of the stadium where they meet Dad, his uniform as impressive as Mama's. Amy's surprise for her father turns out to be her own drawings of Mama playing baseball. The revelation is not especially dramatic, but it fits just right with the warm mood of the story. The final painting focuses on the three family members enjoying the peace of home.
Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
(School Library Journal )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1 edition (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152021965
• ISBN-13: 978-0152021962
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write both fiction and non-fiction. I begin my fiction with the main character. The story comes later. Of course, since I'll be spending a lot of time with each main character, why not have him or her be someone I like? Andy Russell is based, loosely, on a beloved member of my family. He's fun to write about and the boy who inspired the character is even more fun to know. Cam Jansen is based even more loosely on a classmate of mine in the first grade whom we all envied because we thought he had a photographic memory. Now, especially when my children remind me of some promise they said I made, I really envy Cam's amazing memory. I have really enjoyed writing about Cam Jansen and her many adventures. For my books of non-fiction I write about subjects I find fascinating. My first biography was Our Golda: The Life of Golda Meir. To research that book, I bought a 1905 set of encyclopedia. Those books told me what each of the places Golda Meir lived in were like when she lived there. I've written many other biographies, including books about Martin Luther King, Jr; George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Helen Keller; Harriet Tubman; Anne Frank; and many others in my Picture Book Biography series. I've been a Yankee and a Lou Gehrig fan for decades so I wrote Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man. It's more the story of his great courage than his baseball playing. Children face all sorts of challenges and it's my hope that some will be inspired by the courage of Lou Gehrig. I am working now on another book about a courageous man, Janusz Korczak. My book One Yellow Daffodil is fiction, too, but it's based on scores of interviews I did with Holocaust survivors for my books We Remember the Holocaust, Child of the Warsaw Ghetto, The Number on My Grandfather's Arm, and Hiding from the Nazis. The stories I heard were compelling. One Yellow Daffodil is both a look to the past and to the future, and expresses my belief in the great spirit and strength of our children. I love math and was a math teacher for many years, so it was fun for me to write several math books including Fraction Fun, Calculator Riddles, and Shape Up! Fun with Triangles and Other Polygons. In my office I have this sign, "Don't Think. Just Write!" and that's how I work. I try not to worry about each word, even each sentence or paragraph. For me stories evolve. Writing is a process. I rewrite each sentence, each manuscript, many times. And I work with my editors. I look forward to their suggestions, their help in the almost endless rewrite process. Well, it's time to get back to dreaming, and to writing, my dream of a job. David A. Adler is the author of more than 175 children's books, including the Young Cam Jansen series. He lives in Woodmere, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Mama Played Baseball" - A Home Run Book, November 4, 2003

By 

David Doughan (Ames, Iowa U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mama Played Baseball (Hardcover)

Through the eyes of a little girl named Amy, we can experience a little bit of life during World War II. During this time many athletic women vied for spots in the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League. When Amy's mother first tells her of her plans to get a job in the league, Amy wonders, "What kind of job is that?" Baseball is only a game she thinks. Amy's perception of her mother playing pro-baseball changes as her mother makes the team, wins games, and is popular with the fans who ask for her autograph. The reader can easily sense Amy's excitement as she watches many of her mother's games, jumping up and down when her mom scores a hit.
Through a simple plot line, award-winning author David Adler has adequately shown the events of that time. He works a little humor into the story giving the reader a laugh or two and reminding us of common life experiences. "Mama Played Baseball" has a happy ending as Amy's father returns home safely. This is illustrator Chris O'Leary's first picture-book and he has done a magnificent job bringing the story to life. His artwork depicts the 1940s and contributes immensely to the overall story. The story is suitable for children in the lower elementary grades and could also be used in social studies or to introduce sports.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great baseball book for boys or girls, June 7, 2007

By 

Patrick M. Byers (Issaquah, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mama Played Baseball (Hardcover)

Another reviewer has done a terrific job encaptulating this book, so I won't go there.

But I will say, my two toddler age kids love books, especially about baseball. I've read them (and purchased) just about every children's book worth considering regarding baseball and this is in the top five.

Beautifully written and elegantly illustrated, this book tells the story from a young girls perspective about a mother that plays baseball during WWII.

It sends a number of positive messages to boys and girls alike. Pick up a copy of this book -- it's a keeper.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Girl's Baseball, April 29, 2008

By 

L. J. Butler (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mama Played Baseball (Hardcover)

One of the many true stories involving the All American Girls Baseball League (AAGBBL), this small volume recounts some of the history of the women who played professional baseball, beginning when so many of the men were drafted or enlisted during WWII, and ending in the early 1950's. An important part of baseball history that is often neglected. Your kids, especially the girls, will love it.