#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List: #BatterUp

In a little less than a week, baseball fans will be celebrating the 91st Midsummer Classic, also known as Major League Baseball’s 2021  All-Star Game. Last year, because of the pandemic, this annual event didn’t happen. But this year, well … we’re ready! To help get ready for the big game, let’s have some fun with a little trivia.

⚾ “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was registered with the US Copyright Office in May 1908, and was one of the most popular songs that year. [Source: Take Me Out to the Ball Game – Wikipedia]

⚾ The first reference to baseball was described as our “National Pasttime” was in an article printed in The New York Mercury newspaper on December 5, 1856. [Source: 50 Interesting Facts About Baseball That You Should Know – The Fact File]

⚾  The first official game of baseball in the United States took place on June x, 1846 in Hoboken, NJ. It wasn’t until 23 years later when the Cincinnati Red Stocking became the first professional team (1869).  [Source: National League of baseball is founded – HISTORY]

Show me a baseball player and I’ll show you a superstitious habit (or two or three). Not that we are superstitious or anything, but this post went live at 713 – the date of the All-Star game this year.

If those bits of baseball history didn’t “strike” your fancy, we bet you’ll hit a home run with these Cybils-nominated books. Whether you love baseball or just want to learn a little more, check out this collection of fiction and nonfiction, poetry, biography, humor,  zombies, and genies! There are picture books, an easy reader, and a couple of full-length middle-grade novels that will have your baseball lover laughing out loud. Promise.

So pick your book, grab your Cracker Jacks, and settle in for some books that will take you around the horn!

Anybody’s Game: Kathryn Johnston, the First Girl to Play Little League Baseball by Heather Lang, illustrated by Cecilia Buglesi 2018 Nominee Elementary Nonfiction
Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Yuko Shimizo 2013 Finalist Elementary Nonfiction [Nonfiction Picture Book]
Betsy’s Day at the Game by Greg Bancroft, illustrated by Katherine Blackmore 2013 Nominee Fiction Picture Book
Change-up: Baseball Poems by Gene Fehler, illustrated by Donald Wu 2009 Nominee Poetry
Cy Young: An American Baseball Hero Biographies for Young Readers series by Scott H. Longert 2020 Nominee Middle Grade Nonfiction
Dodger and Me by Jordan Sonnenblick 2008 Nominee Middle Grade Fiction
The Fastest Game on Two Feet: And Other Poems About How Sports Began by Alice Low, illustrated by John O’Brien 2009 Nominee Poetry
Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park 2008 Nominee Middle Grade Fiction
The Kid from Diamond Street: The Extraordinary Story of Baseball Legend Edith Houghton by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Steven Salerno 2016 Nominee Elementary Nonfiction [Nonfiction Picture Book]
Miracle Mud: Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud That Changed Baseball David A. Kelly 2013 Nominee Middle Grade Nonfiction
Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber Sue Macy 2016 Nominee Elementary Nonfiction
My First Book of Baseball: A Rookie Book A Sports Illustrated Kids Book by The Editors of Sports Illustrated Kids 2016 Nominee Elementary Nonfiction [Nonfiction Picture Book]
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Don Tate 2011 Nominee Elementary Nonfiction (Nonfiction Picture Book)
Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy: The Evolution of Gender, Identity, and Race in Sports by Robyn Ryle 2020 Finalist High School Nonfiction
Watch Me Throw the Ball! An Elephant and Piggie Book  written and illustrated by Mo Willems 2009 Winner Easy Reader
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson 2008 Nominee Middle Grade Nonfiction
The William Hoy Story: How a Deaf Baseball Player Changed the Game by Nancy Churnin, illustrated by Jez Tuya 2016 Nominee Elementary Nonfiction
Zombie Baseball Beatdown Paolo Bacigalupi 2013 Nominee Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction