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Just as Good: How Larry Doby Changed America's Game

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Just as Good: How Larry Doby Changed America's Game

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Overview

Batter up for the first-ever children's book about Larry Doby, the first African-American player to hit a home run in the World Series.

The year is 1948, and Homer and his daddy are baseball crazy. Ever since last season, when their man Larry Doby followed Jackie Robinson across baseball’s color line and signed on with their team, the Cleveland Indians, it’s been like a dream come true. And today Larry Doby and the Indians are playing Game Four of the World Series against the Boston Braves! With a play-by-play narration capturing all the excitement of that particular game — and the special thrill of listening to it on the radio with family at home — Chris Crowe and Mike Benny craft a compelling tribute to an unsung legend. Kid-friendly and vividly illustrated, this long-overdue biography, featuring an extensive bibliography and historical note, illuminates the effect Larry Doby had on his fans as both a baseball hero and a champion for civil rights.

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763650261
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	01/24/2012
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,080,784
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	AD690L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Chris Crowe has written several celebrated books for young people, including Mississippi Trial, 1955, which won the International Reading Association Young Adult Book Award, and Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. Chris Crowe is a professor of English at Brigham Young University and lives in Provo, Utah.

Mike Benny is an award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in many prominent publications, including The New Yorker, Time, Sports Illustrated, and Rolling Stone. He has also illustrated several picture books, including Oh, Brother! by Nikki Grimes and The Listeners by Gloria Whelan. Mike Benny lives in Austin, Texas.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

While numerous children’s books have been written about Jackie Robinson, this is the first dedicated to another pioneering ballplayer, Larry Doby, who joined the Cleveland Indians 11 weeks after Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Doby became the first African-American player in the American League and, in 1948, he helped the Indians win their first World Series in decades. Crowe (Mississippi Trial, 1945) tells the story of the first game in that World Series matchup through the excited first-person narration of Homer, a young baseball fan who, having been told he can’t play on his local Little League team, is looking to Doby to prove “that our people are just as good in baseball—or anything else—as whites are.” Homer and his parents listen to the game over a newly purchased radio, but readers have a better seat, thanks to Benny’s (The Listeners) atmospheric acrylic paintings, which shift between closeups of the ballpark action and Homer’s family’s elated reactions at home. A straightforward but nonetheless inspirational story of barriers being broken down, one slow step at a time. Ages 6–10. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Like many fans, Homer and his father switch on the radio to listen to Doby’s big game, which JUST AS GOOD recreates play-by-play with Benny’s lush acrylics.
—The New York Times

A straightforward but nonetheless inspirational story of barriers being broken down, one slow step at a time.
—Publishers Weekly

Crowe's story captures a slice of baseball life for a family enjoying the old-time radio play-by-play and seeing in Doby's accomplishments a sign of better times to come. Benny's full-page acrylic paintings are cheery and portray a comfortable home setting... A fine story about baseball that makes its point quietly and effectively.
—Kirkus Reviews

With an author’s note that fleshes out Doby’s historical significance, this nostalgic picture book frames Doby’s on-field heroics with a story of a father and son listening on the radio as Doby launches a game-winning home run in the World Series... A sage reminder that though the first step might be the hardest, the second is no less important.
—Booklist

A compelling look at one of the game's trailblazers.
—School Library Journal

Baseball fans will enjoy this book with its oversized paintings of Doby in action.
—Library Media Connection

This wonderful picture book tells the simple story of a boy and his dad listening to that game on the radio in their kitchen and realizing that they were listening to history being made.
—Washington Post

Mike Benny depicts Homer’s wide-eyed excitement through luminous illustrations, while Crowe seamlessly weaves facts and stats from the actual game into the storyline.
—BookPage

The father-son relationship, a family's pride and an almost forgotten moment in the civil rights struggle are recalled with an assist from rich acrylics that capture a pivotal moment.
—San Francisco Chronicle

From the Publisher

Gr 1–4—Eleven weeks after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier with the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers, Doby signed with the Cleveland Indians, in the American League. While his achievement has not been as celebrated as Robinson's, the need for him to succeed was just as important. It validated Robinson's Rookie of the Year accomplishment, proving that he wasn't a fluke, and that African-American players could succeed in baseball just as well as white athletes. Doby's story—and particularly his 1948 season with the World Champion Indians—is seen through the eyes of Homer, an African-American child who is crazy about baseball. He, too, faces disappointment when his Little League coach tells him he can't play because he is black (an abruptly cruel moment in an otherwise uplifting book). Homer and his father follow Doby's every move, fully aware of the history they are witnessing. It is the familial context that gives the book its punch. Period details, such as hurrying to the local drugstore to listen to the World Series games on the radio, combine with play-by-play drama to flesh out a compelling story. Benny's acrylic paintings focus on the characters—Doby, Homer, his mother and father—placing them in the spotlight at various moments. A compelling look at one of the game's trailblazers.—Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

A young boy and his parents gather round their brand-new radio, purchased just for the occasion, to listen anxiously and, finally, exultantly as Larry Doby leads the 1948 Cleveland Indians to World Series victory. The boy, African-American, had been told that there was no future for him in baseball because of segregation, even though Jackie Robinson now played with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Doby had signed with the Indians. Larry Doby? Doby integrated the American League and was a brilliant hitter and fielder who got lost in the Robinson accolades. Crowe's story captures a slice of baseball life for a family enjoying the old-time radio play-by-play and seeing in Doby's accomplishments a sign of better times to come. Benny's full-page acrylic paintings are cheery and portray a comfortable home setting. There's also a dramatic double-page spread of Doby's Game Four home run. More importantly, Benny reproduces the newspaper photograph of Doby and the Indians' white pitcher, Steve Gromek, joyfully hugging each other cheek to cheek. It's a photo that should stand in importance alongside the one of PeeWee Reese putting his arm around Robinson, as remembered so well in Peter Golenbock's Teammates (1990). A fine story about baseball that makes its point quietly and effectively. (historical note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

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