Out of the Park!

This is essentially a compendium of baseball biographies. The text and in-depth information make it best for older elementary school children, up through early high school. The pictures are great, especially the photographs that show objects and players from long ago.

It's broken into short chapters that are nonetheless dense with information. Perhaps the most interesting chapter was on leadership and what made certain individuals leaders in baseball. That's a concept I hadn't seen covered before.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I plan to purchase for my library.

I am a baseball fanatic, and this book is absolutely fantastic! It’s accessible. The format is consistent and interesting. The color choices are great. The content – stats and history – are just right for the audience.

My only issue is with the player choices, and it’s the age-old debate: is so-and-so really better than so-and-so? And, my issue isn’t negative. It caused me to really think about each position – as the chapters are arranged by field position – and I went back to the title.

This text is about the game changers. The people who laid the groundwork of greatness so others could see them, emulate them, and be better than them. In the Introduction, the author describes the criteria to pick each player.

Each chapter begins with the position, a description written within a baseball diamond, and a Fast Fact (super interesting!). The next two pages are Around the Diamond with sections on stats and interesting facts, Then and Now, Talkin’ Baseball, Pioneer Player, Hall of Fame information and heroes, gear, and a quote.

This format – which is eye-catching and easy to read – is consistent in each chapter. Then we read about the players at those positions. Four players get individual pages and a picture, and four players share a page (the layout reminds me a little bit of a baseball card).

Sure to be a hit with readers of all ages, the sweet spot is ages 8-14, although adults and older teens would enjoy this book, also. It could be used as a reference for a larger project (thinking about students in school), to open the door to a healthy debate, to learn, or – best of all – simply to enjoy the history and greatness of the sport.

This book is #OutofthePark. Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley I was able to read Out Of The Park by James Buckley.
Its is a great book targeted for kids wanting to learn the history of basketballs most significant players and important moments. The graphics are captivating and content of the book is great and easy to understand.

This book was a very well laid out book. The facts proved would be easy to search for and find if you were reading this book to reference something. I loved how the vocabulary was laid out in the beginning for each category they divided players into. I thought the addition of baseball card graphics which each player was a unique touch! Baseball lovers will love this book!

What an engrossing book to turn to after watching the opening day game today? Look no further than this engrossing volume. Even though I don't know a lot about baseball, the formatting of this was exquisitely engaging and reminded me a bit of the Sports Illustrated Then to Wow titles in the wide array of facts presented. This is divided up into different positions or types of activity of the field, each of which are supported by statistics, facts, and short biographies of famous players. There's a nice contrast between older players and newer ones, and it's handy that the players who are in the Hall of Fame are in bold type. Since this book is officially licensed by the Baseball Hall of Fame, there are a large number of great photographs. This is a beautiful book packed with all sorts of information. I wish I had a copy right now for an 8th grade nonfiction project, but will definitely order a copy for next year. It's available through Follett's Titlewave, even though I've never heard of the press. Buckley is apparently a prominent sports writer. (Oh. Apparently a division of Quarto Publishing that is not important enough to be given capitalization.)