Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Baseball Hour
Illustrator: Bill Thomson
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 8
Marshall Cavendish, 2008 ISBN: 978-0761453802
Every year, all over the United States, boys and girls of all ages come together for baseball practice. They begin by stretching out their muscles, warming up their legs, throwing balls, catching, and batting. Then "fielders field and pitchers pitch" and a game is under way.
Balls fly, mitts catch, and bats swing. The rhythm of the game runs smoothly until it all comes to a close when one of the teams wins.
In this picture book the author uses image rich and perfectly balanced rhyming couplets to tell the story of a typical children's baseball practice session. The lines are spare and yet they perfectly capture the atmosphere on the baseball field as the children go through their paces. Bill Thomson's incredible sepia colored multimedia artwork shows scenes from many unexpected angles, zooming in on balls, mitts, intense looking faces, and running feet. The effect of this style is to make the reader feel that he or she is there, up close and personal, running, hitting, and catching with the boys and girls on the pages.
