Take Me Out to the Ballgame - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- When their grandmother offers to take them on an outing, baseball fans Jenny and Joanna unhesitatingly elect a ball game. Singing the familiar chorus, which provides the text for the rest of the story, they enjoy peanuts and Cracker Jack and root for the home team. Then, when grandma reaches for a flyaway balloon, she blocks the ball and engineers the third strike--and out-- "At the old ball game!" Any fans worth their salt will object to a pop fly being called a strike, and will look askance at the woman's obvious interference and infraction of the rules. But Kovalski's tale is not so much about baseball as much as it is about a grandmother who, despite her girth, her high heels, and red polka-dot dress, is a great sport and good companion at the ball park. As a follow up to this humorous book, and for more information on Norworth's famous song and the history of baseball, see Take Me Out to the Ballgame (Four Winds, 1993) illustrated by Alec Gillman, which describes a critical game in the 1947 World Series and the origin of the song. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Kovalski ( The Wheels on the Bus ; Jingle Bells ) prefaces her lively version of Norwell's familiar refrain with a new verse that tells the story of two sisters who--like the Katie Casey of the original--are "baseball mad." The story of Jenny and Joanna and their eccentric grandmother parallels the text of the original song as the threesome enjoys a high-powered game at the stadium. When the girls let go of their red balloon, Grandma in her red polka-dotted dress climbs out of the bleachers just in time to catch the winning baseball that (inexplicably) seems to have been hit on the third strike. Kovalski's characters and black outlined cartoons are filled with mirth and action but the awkwardly phrased new verse and the contrived illustrations, which often have little to do with the lyrics, make this a less satisfying songbook than her earlier efforts. Though Kovalski's rendition evinces considerable kid appeal, it nevertheless suffers to some extent by comparison with Alec Gillman's recent more exuberant and inventive version of the classic tune. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.