News & Media
Play Ball! Our Picks for Baseball Fans
Batter up! Baseball season is almost here. Celebrate the start of a new season with these books about some of baseball’s greatest players. All are sure to be a home run with your young reader!
Call Me Roberto! Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos by Nathalie Alonso, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez (Also available in Spanish!)
Here is the inspirational story of Major League Baseball player Roberto Clemente—not Bob—who endured years of racism and discrimination to become one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book · ALSC Notable Children’s Book · A BCCB Blue Ribbon · Horn Book Fanfare 2024 · NPR’s Books We Love List 2024 · NYPL Best Book 2024 · Evanston Public Library’s 101 Great Books for Kids 2024 · Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2024
★★★★ FOUR STARRED REVIEWS ★★★★
Download our FREE Educator Guide!
Meet author Nathalie Alonso!
Swinging into History: Toni Stone: Big-League Baseball’s First Woman Player by Karen L. Swanson, illustrated by Laura Freeman
2025 Rise: A Feminist Book Project Title
Young readers will root for Toni “Tomboy” Stone, the first woman (and the first Black woman) to break into professional baseball—taking over Hank Aaron’s roster spot—in this nonfiction picture book biography.
Download our FREE Discussion Guide!
Yogi: The Life, Loves, and Language of Baseball Legend Yogi Berra by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Terry Widener
The life and famous words, such as “It ain’t over till it’s over!”, of Major League Baseball player and New York Yankee Lawrence “Yogi” Berra is celebrated in this nonfiction picture book biography.
★ “This excellent character study will be useful as a model for students writing research-based biographies since it includes extensive author’s notes, baseball statistics, a note about Yogi-isms, and secondary quotes about the man himself, but it will loved most of all by Yankees fans.” —School Library Connection, starred review
The Streak: How Joe DiMaggio Became America’s Hero by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Terry Widener
Perfect for every baseball fan, this is the story of New York Yankees baseball great Joe DiMaggio’s longest hitting streak in baseball history.
★ “A rousing and inspiring account of an athletic achievement that has yet to be bested.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
A Negro League Scrapbook by Carole Boston Weatherford, foreword by Buck O’Neil
Featuring lively verse, fascinating facts, and archival photographs, here is a celebration of the Negro Leagues and the great players who went unrecognized in their time written by Children’s Literature Legacy Award winner Carole Boston Weatherford.
“Weatherford has collected a wealth of information and memorabilia from the earliest days through the Leagues’ demise in 1963…. one doesn’t need to be a baseball fan to be fascinated.” —Kirkus Reviews
