Christopher Jordan (1)

This was a fun book to share with a pre-schooler. We read the book together and it opened up a lot of conversations. He isn't into baseball so we talked about the general rules of baseball, what the concepts in the book were trying to convey (i.e. big vs. small, hot vs. cold, etc.). This book is best for pre-school and older. Pre-school age children will benefit most by going over the book with an adult who can explain the concepts and use the pictures and text as a starting point for show more conversation. The photographs in the book are well-done. I appreciate that they included players of color in their photo selection. Women are conspicuously missing from all of the photos, could have figured out some creative way to show girls and women (i.e. picture of game attendees to show quiet vs. loud, a family photo of the players, front office MLB staff, etc.).

The book itself is gorgeous and sturdy. The binding and pages are made of quality paper and will stand up well to many readings by young sports fans. I can see this being a favorite book in a library or classroom library. show less

Baseball season starts soon, so it is the perfect day for me to review this book! I am the mom who sang ‘Take Me Out To the Ballgame’ as baby’s first lullaby. Baby took in her first Cardinal game by the time she was 6 months old. So how could I NOT pick this one up?!

What a fun book this is! The photos are great, filling the page, and the fun facts are interesting, too. Little ones will enjoy reading the book with their mom or dad and guessing what team goes with what animal. I was show more pleased to see the author did his research and correctly listed the origin of the Cardinals team name as the color and not the bird. It was interesting to see how he managed to work in animal tidbits even for teams without an animal as their team name. For example, the Oakland A’s use an elephant in their alternate logo. The book explains why.

There are two things that would make the book even better. It would have been fantastic so see ALL the teams mentioned. And I REALLY would have liked to have seen a caption identifying the players in the photos. But even without that, this book will be great for any parent looking to start their child’s baseball education off right!

I won through the Early Reviewers program at LibraryThing.com. This did not affect my review. show less

I love how the book is nicely organized with an educational description of each animal and then asking the children to guess which animal is associated with a particular professional baseball team. When you turn the page over, you'll see a pro ball player in uniform with an explanation of why their team is named the Baltimore Orioles, for example. My grandson who is 5 years old loved seeing the majestic bald eagle and learning about the marlin. Naturally, he was fascinated by the diamondback show more rattler and his love for the sport of baseball has grown more because of his connection with baseball animals. We love the book because it's visual and so engaging. It's well written, keeps their attention and the illustrations are beautiful! show less

If you are a baseball fan, are raising a young baseball fan, or are trying to connect with a young baseball fan, here's the book for you - a marriage of baseball and animals!

"Which MLB team shares its name with a songbird that loves acorns?

This blue, black and white bird is thought to be responsible for spreading the oak tree across North America."

If the beautiful photograph of a blue jay on a stark white background doesn't give you the answer, just turn the page to reveal a full-page action show more shot of a Toronto Blue Jays batter.

Each baseball page features the team's logo, a full-page action photo taken at the ballpark, and some team uniform trivia. Did you know that the Cardinals (often called the Redbirds) were not named for the beautiful bird, but rather for the color of their original uniforms? Their uniforms were cardinal red. So, presumably they are named after the traditional color of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. Now that's a great baseball trivia question!

Fun and informative, this is a must-have for little baseball fans. I don't know why someone didn't think of it earlier! An Appendix of MLB Teams and Logos rounds out the book - featuring all of the teams - even those sans animals on their logos.

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