[.ca] Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth (ISBN 0152045996)

From Amazon.com:
"He has always had this swing. This easy, upthrusting swing. This 'pretty' swing, not taught by any coach. One day the Babe just swung--and it was there. It was his." Combining stirring, poetic prose and Mike Wimmer's realistic illustrations, Home Run conveys the feeling of excitement and awe that must have been present at a baseball game in which the great Babe Ruth played. Robert Burleigh, who previously collaborated with Wimmer on the award-winning Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh, writes this picture-book tribute "for my Father--who loved the game ... for my son, Eli, to help him learn the spirit of can-do." His great love for both shines through. Our stomachs knot and spirits soar as Ruth steps up to the plate. Home Run softly draws us into the story, and the illustrations, rendered in oil on canvas, have an expansiveness and glow that lift them from the page. The gentle tribute is enhanced by "vintage-style baseball cards" that highlight aspects of Babe Ruth's career ("The Bambino loved driving low-slung convertibles, donning silk shirts and coonskin coats, and downing huge meals"), allowing Burleigh the opportunity to include important information without destroying the perfect simplicity of the main story. A treasure for anyone with a love of the game, Home Run is also powerfully affecting for those new to the excitement it holds. (Click to see a sample spread. Illustration from Home Run by Robert Burleigh, illustration © 1998 by Mike Wimmer, reproduced by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company.) (Ages 5 and older) --Aimee Damman

For the child who loves baseball and has two left feet.:
Purchased this for my nephew who is overweight, uncoordinated and loves playing baseball. Reading this to him increased his joy of the game and gave him confidence to keep trying to improve his own skills. Taught him to do best with the skills he had right now and even how to deal with successes in life. This level of understanding was terrific for children and adult alike. Excellent book for sharing special time with children.

Beautiful artwork!!!:
First, the artwork in this book is simply stellar. My son is 3 and has several dozen story books. We also take him to the library regularly and we've read him several dozen others now. Of all the story books I've seen, the art in this is the most amazing. Worth the twice the price simply for the art. Also, this is not so much a story, as it is an epic poem of The Babe's love for baseball, and his desire to compete and excell. While there are narrative texts on each page that address some statistics and history of Ruth's career, these don't really make a story when you put them together. I'm a rabid San Francisco Giants fan, and I get even more of a sense of what a great player the Babe was from watching Barry Bonds playing baseball... both are the premier players of their era, simultaneously feared and respected, yet for different reasons. Most importantly, my son simply loves this book. And, that's the most important criteria in evaluating a children's book in my opinion. When we read it together, I'll pause at a key point in the story/poem and he'll fill in the last word or three of the line; we've read it so many times he practically has memorized it from hearing it so often. This book is a beautiful and excellent combination of poetry and art about baseball.

A book that lives in the moment:
This books opens with the Great Bambino as a child. Remindingyou of your own innocent childhood. It then leaps to his professinalcareer where it slows down to one at bat. (the moment) It is written with a grace for detail that makes you feel like part of the story. You hear the crack of the bat, feel the dirt under your spikes, the "soft hardness of the base", and hear the defening sound of the crowd. This book brings tears to my eyes everytime I read it to my daughter and my son. Maybe one day they will read it to their children and know why. END