Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino
Illustrator: C.F. Payne
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 7
Simon and Schuster, 2005 ISBN: 0689872356
Kate is going to Fenway Park with her dad and she can hardly wait. This is her first time at the famous ball park and she knows that she will be continuing a tradition which was followed by her dad, granddad and great-granddad. They all went to the base ball game to cheer on their team, the Boston Red Sox.
When Kate asks her dad "who was greatest ballplayer who ever lived?" he tells her that it surely must be the famous George Herman Ruth, "the great Bambino." Kate's dad then goes on to tell her about Ruth and how, when he left the Boston Red Sox to play for the Yankees, the Red Sox seemed to be cursed because they couldn't win another World Series game. While Ruth played with them the Red Sox won the series three times, but after he was traded the team wasn't able to win a series at all.
Kate's dad then goes on to tell her about a game that her Great Granddad watched in 1918, the last series game that the Red Sox won before the "curse of the Bambino" struck. He explained how the Red Sox kept losing, sometimes in the most peculiar ways until at last, in 2004, the curse was broken and the Boston Red Sox at last won the World Series.
This fascinating picture book not only tells the story of the legend of the Curse of the Bambino, but it also captures the special relationship that fans can have with their home team. As the story unfolds the illustrator incorporates pictures of Babe Ruth into each ball park scene, a smiling benign character who looks on and who is a part of every game that the Boston Red Sox plays.