Stars in the Shadows: The Negro League All-Star Game of 1934 - Hardcover

Smith Jr., Charles R

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689866380 ISBN 13: 9780689866388

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012

Synopsis

Meet Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and other baseball heroes in this unique radio broadcast reenactment of a legendary All-Star Game, marking a pivotal time in sports history.

1934, Chicago. Come step back in time to witness the best of the best Negro League players take each other on in one of the most fascinating All-Star ballgames in American history.

Using a unique radio broadcast transcript, Coretta Scott King Award Winner Charles R. Smith, Jr. has recreated this momentous event with a lively play-by-play retelling of the second annual Negro League East-West Game. Meet legendary players like Satchel Paige, Turkey Stearness, and Cool Pappa Bell, hang in the stands with the fans, and experience this exhilarating untold, true story--with a lyrical twist.

Stars in the Shadows is a must-have for any baseball aficionado or anyone interested in forgotten history. Beautifully packaged and with incredible black-and-white illustrations by Frank Morrison, this is a rare and extraordinary book.

About this title

Review:

"Writing in snappy rhymed couplets, Smith delivers a play-by-play, inning-by-inning account of the second annual East-West Classic, held in Chicago in 1934, an all-star face-off between the best players from the Negro League. Working in graphite, Morrison contributes full-bleed and spot illustrations of dynamic, athletic players in motion."--Publishers Weekly

"Baseball fans will feel they are at the ballpark when they read this account of the second annual Negro Leagues' East-West game. The illustrations bring to mind the past and an Author's Note explains the origin of the game. Fan favorites included Cool Papa Bell, Jimmie Crutchfeld, Oscar Charleston, Stachel Paige, Turkey Stearnes, and Mule Suttles. This book would be a wonderful read-aloud, as students will get the feel of the broadcast even more."--Library Media Connection

"Use this book as an exciting complement to Kadir Nelson's We Are the Ship."--Booklist

About the Author:

Charles R. Smith, Jr. is an acclaimed poet and the Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator of My People, a picture book based on the poem by Langston Hughes. He is also the illustrator of If, the author and photographer of I Am the World, and he won the Coretta Scott King Author Honor for his book Twelve Rounds To Glory. He grew up in California and attended the Brooks Institute of Photography. A magazine and book cover photographer in addition to a picture book creator, Charles lives with his wife and kids in Poughkeepsie, New York. Visit him at CharlesRSmithJr.com.

Frank Morrison is the award-winning illustrator of many books for young readers, including Jazzy Miz Mozetta, winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent; Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book; Muhammad Ali; and How Sweet the Sound. Before becoming a children's book illustrator and fine artist, Morrison toured the globe as a break-dancer. He lives in Georgia with his family.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0689866380
• ISBN 13: 9780689866388
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 112
• Illustrator: Morrison Frank