Status
Available
Publication
Kokila (2023), 48 pages
Library's review
Profiles of the first two Native players to make history by facing off in a World Series: Charles Bender and John Meyers.
Properly rejecting the conventional sobriquets (both were often referred to as “Chief” in newspapers despite not being tribal leaders) as inaccurate and disrespectful and
A lesser-known but significant encounter with all-too-current resonances. (author’s note, quotes, sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)
-Kirkus Revuew
Properly rejecting the conventional sobriquets (both were often referred to as “Chief” in newspapers despite not being tribal leaders) as inaccurate and disrespectful and
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using her subjects’ given names (or childhood nicknames) throughout, Sorell weaves into her brief but suspenseful recap of the 1911 Series accounts of both men’s paths to the major leagues. Bender left the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota to pitch for the Philadelphia Athletics after escaping abusive experiences both at home, from his German American father, and in a boarding school; Meyers resisted “pressure to adopt white people’s norms” as he left the Cahuilla reservation in California for spots on several semipro teams and then spoke out against injustices against Native people as a catcher for the New York Giants. Adding carefully authenticated Ojibwe and Cahuilla motifs on framing borders, Starr offers a set of clean-lined on-field tableaux, montages, and baseball card–style portraits of the chiseled players in period uniforms. Though the author does give her stars’ later careers (and, in a closing timeline, lives) quick overviews, the story she tells is at least as much about racism as it is about baseball, with several references to “slights and slurs” along with documented prejudicial quotes and headlines from the time identified as “insults.” Nor has the onslaught let up significantly: “From peewee to professional levels,” she concludes, “no other athletes in the United States face the kind of sanctioned mocking and dishonor of their culture that Native players do.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)A lesser-known but significant encounter with all-too-current resonances. (author’s note, quotes, sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)
-Kirkus Revuew
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Awards
American Indians in Children's Literature Best Books (Picture Books — 2023)
American Indian Youth Literature Award (Honor Book — Picture Book — 2024)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Kids (Nonfiction — 2023)
Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List (Grades 3-5 — 2024)
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0593406478 / 9780593406472