Book cover image from Amazon.com
WE ARE THE SHIP: THE STORY OF NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nelson, Kadir. 2008. WE ARE THE SHIP: THE STORY OF NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion. ISBN 9780786808328.
2. BOOK SUMMARY
In the late 1800’s Negro baseball players were unable to play on professional baseball teams. This came from a secret meeting in which a “gentleman’s agreement” was made forcing all Negro players off of teams and not hiring any more. On February 20, 1920 Rube Foster met with all of the other owners of black baseball teams in the Midwest, and started the Negro National League. Rube said, “We are the ship, all else the sea.”
Nelson introduces us to many of the famous players in the league and explains the conditions that the players endured, “Try sleeping in a car with your knees to your chest, crammed with eight other guys, only to play a game the next day.” The players were often discriminated against and couldn’t even eat in the restaurants in some of the towns they played. Even during the Depression, there was baseball.
Some of the players would go to Cuba to train, and possibly try to stay since the players weren’t discriminated against in Latin America. The heat and absolute perfection demanded of them sent many of them back to the US to continue to play for the Negro leagues.
The Negro Leagues began to become obsolete when some of their players crossed to play in the Major League. “If a colored boy can make it on Okinawa and Guadalcanal … he can make it in baseball. Jackie Robinson was the first player to cross, and in 1948 the Negro League ended.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
What caught my attention first with this book were the amazing illustrations. “Each turn of the page provides a visual treat for the reader, whether it is a portrait of a player, or an action shot such as that of Jackie Robinson stealing home “(Children’s Literature). The images were so realistic and were just as powerful as his illustrations in Henry’s Freedom Box.
The book was told from the view point of every man. In Nelson’s Author’s Notes at the end of the book he gives his reasoning for choosing this way to tell the story, “I chose to present the voice of the narrator as a collective voice, the voice of every player, the voice of we…it became clear that hearing the story of Negro League baseball directly from those who experienced it firsthand made it more real, more accessible.”
Another part of this book’s appeal is that the each chapter has its own title, but instead of being given just a number, it is called a certain inning. For example, the first chapter is called “1st Inning: Beginnings”. The last chapter is called “Extra Innings: The End of the Negro Leagues”.
The book ends with a listing of all the members of the Negro Leagues who made it to the Major Leagues and those who are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. These two lists come before the Bibliography, Filmography, End Notes for each chapter, and Index.
4. AWARDS AND HONORS
2008 Horn Book Fanfare
2008 Kirkus Best Children's Books
2008 Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Books
2008 School Library Journal Best Books
2009 Booklist's Top 10 Black History Books for Youth
2009 Author Winner of the Corretta Scott King Book Award
2008 Winner New York times Best Illustrated Children's Book's of the Year
2009 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children Honorable Mention
2009 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Winner
2008 Society of Illustrators' Award Silver Medal
5. REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Booklist: "The stories and artwork are a tribute to the spirit of the Negro Leaguers, who were much more than also-rans and deserve a more prominent place on baseball’s history shelves. For students and fans (and those even older than the suggested grade level), this is the book to accomplish just that."
From Kirkus Review's: "Along with being absolutely riveted by the art, readers will come away with a good picture of the Negro Leaguers' distinctive style of play, as well as an idea of how their excellence challenged the racial attitudes of both their sport and their times."
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