Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Includes a 3-Song CD

by Jack Norworth, Amiko Hirao (Illustrator), Carly Simon (Performed by)

Overview

This is a unique offering of a book and CD, recorded by Carly Simon, featuring the classic song. Batter up! Get out the peanuts and Cracker Jacks, and get ready for fun with America's national sport! The unofficial anthem of baseball has never sounded or looked better than it does in this joyful edition, complete with a CD featuring the inimitable Carly Simon.

Colorful, collage-like illustrations are kids' tickets into "Sluggers Stadium," where two animal teams step up to the plate and vie for victory—all cheered on by Katie Casey, the baseball-loving cat. And what a game it is! Giraffe winds up at the pitcher's mound, hoping for a strikeout. But, with a thwack, ball meets bat and Crocodile is off and running. Can Tiger tag him out at first? He'd better, because Elephant's up next and that will cause a commotion!

Open the pages, put on the CD—which contains "I Gave My Love a Cherry" and "Scarborough Fair," along with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"—and introduce young fans to baseball.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936140268
Publisher:	Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2011
Pages:	26
Product dimensions:	11.70(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jack Norworth was an American songwriter, singer, and vaudeville performer. He is credited as being one of a collection of New York-based songwriters and lyricists that made up Tin Pan Alley in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," for which Jack wrote the lyrics, was his longest-lasting hit.

Carly Simon is an internationally renowned singer and songwriter who has won two Grammy® Awards, as well as a Hall of Fame Grammy, an Oscar®, and a Golden Globe® Award for "Let the River Run" from the film Working Girl. In 1994, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

She began her career singing with her sisters, but came to fame in the early 1970s with such hits as "That's the Way I Always Heard it Should Be" and "Anticipation." The blockbuster "You're So Vain" followed, selling more than a million copies and earning several Grammy nominations; it is number 72 on Billboard's definitive "Hot 100" songs, compiled over the lifetime of the chart. Several of her albums have gone platinum, and she also scored a hit with "Nobody Does It Better," the theme song to the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. In addition, Simon has produced for numerous singers, written the score for several films, and recorded collections of American songbook standards.

Amiko Hirao earned a degree in art history in her native Japan, and later graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has illustrated four children's books, including Tulip at the Bat by J. Patrick Lewis, How the Fisherman Tricked the Genie by Christopher Sunami, and All Aboard by Mary Lyn Ray. She lives in Massachusetts.

Read an Excerpt

Katie Casey was baseball mad.
She had the fever and she had it bad.
Just to root for the hometown crew,
every cent, that Katie spent.

Editorial Reviews

Even fans too young to remember the last time the Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant will be able to enjoy this multimedia baseball treat. Jack Norworth's Take Me Out to The Ball Game gives pint-sized future Hall of Famers front row seats to a World Series-worthy match between two animal teams. The book also offers an entertaining seventh inning stretch: a three-song CD by hit singer Carly Singer that includes "I Gave My Love a Cherry" and "Scarborough Fair," in addition to the ever-popular "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

This ode to Norworth's beloved anthem includes the song's little-known verses about "Katie Casey," who is depicted as a baseball-obsessed cat. When Katie's "beau" (a white dog) asks Katie to the movies, she instead suggests a trip to the stadium. There, they root, root, root for the home team, which includes a giraffe, zebra, and elephant. Sometimes awkward phrasing and meter ("When the score was 2-2,/ Katie Casey, she had the clue,/ to cheer on the boys,/ she knew just what to do") may explain why the verses don't have the popularity of the chorus, but fans should still enjoy Hirao's dynamic scenes of ballpark action. An included CD features Carly Simon's performance of the song and two others. Ages 4–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1—It wouldn't be baseball season without a new rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." This one includes a three-song CD by Carly Simon, who has altered a few of the lyrics to modernize the language and added an interesting note about Jackie Robinson living with her family from 1954 to 1955. The main purpose here seems mainly to be to showcase the CD, which was originally recorded for the Ken Burns PBS program. The illustrations are vibrant and pleasing and make full use of each spread as feline Katie Casey, an avid baseball fan, spends every cent she has to go and "root for the hometown crew." There is plenty of ballpark activity crammed into each scene, and the animal characters are amusing, if sometimes busy. Name recognition will raise interest in this book, mainly among adults.—Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

♦ The song may have been written by a man who had never been to a game, and it was first sung on the vaudeville circuit of early-20th-century America, but it has long since taken its place as the venerable and beloved anthem of baseball. Of course, modern fans do not include the original verse when they sing the refrain during the seventh-inning stretch. The fact that the lyrics are about a young woman's deep love of the game would greatly surprise them. Katie Casey "saw all the games, knew all the players by their first names." The song has been illustrated often, in myriad styles and techniques. Hirao creates a cast of enthusiastic animals to populate the teams and spectators at Sluggers Stadium. While the fans, including Katie the cat, are of mostly domesticated varieties, the players are alligators, giraffes, elephants, hippos and other wildlife. It's a visual tour de force, with double-page spreads of large, action-packed, brilliantly colored scenes in startlingly off-center perspective. A Carly Simon CD accompanies the book, and youngsters will have a wonderful time reading and singing along. In a charming note, Simon provides some surprising information about her connection to both the song and Jackie Robinson. Joyous fun for all.
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

This ode to Norworth's beloved anthem includes the song's little-known verses about "Katie Casey," who is depicted as a baseball-obsessed cat. When Katie's "beau" (a white dog) asks Katie to the movies, she instead suggests a trip to the stadium. There, they root, root, root for the home team, which includes a giraffe, zebra, and elephant. Sometimes awkward phrasing and meter ("When the score was 2-2,/ Katie Casey, she had the clue,/ to cheer on the boys,/ she knew just what to do") may explain why the verses don't have the popularity of the chorus, but fans should still enjoy Hirao's dynamic scenes of ballpark action. An included CD features Carly Simon's performance of the song and two others.
—Publishers Weekly

It wouldn't be baseball season without a new rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." This one includes a three song CD by Carly Simon, who has altered a few of the lyrics to modernize the language and added an interesting note about Jackie Robinson living with her family from 1954 to 1955. The main purpose here seems mainly to be to showcase the CD, which was originally recorded for the Ken Burns PBS program. The illustrations are vibrant and pleasing and make full use of each spread as feline Katie Casey, an avid baseball fan, spends every cent she has to go and "root for the hometown crew." There is plenty of ballpark activity crammed into each scene, and the animal characters are amusing, if sometimes busy. Name recognition will raise interest in this book, mainly among adults.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

As baseball season gets into full swing, this color-splashed, wild, animal-filled picture book is the perfect accompaniment for the younger fan. The home team is represented by an elephant, a cheetah, a flamingo, and an assortment of other vibrant characters. At the center of the story are baseball-crazy Katie Casey and her enthusiasm for the team. Never missing a game, yelling at the umpire, knowing the names of all the players—it's all there in Katie's support. When the score is tied, 2-2, Katie steps out of her role as fan, and becomes the cheerleader rallying the team as she leads the stands in singing the familiar song of the title. In the end, Katie is just the support that is needed and she rides triumphantly off on the shoulders of pitcher, giraffe. To the delight of large and small readers, a CD accompanies this picture book with three contributions from Grammy and Oscar award winner, Carly Simon. Fascinating performer's and artist's notes appear at the end of the tale enriching the reading experience. Reviewer: Janice DeLong

Children's Literature - Janice DeLong

The song may have been written by a man who had never been to a game, and it was first sung on the vaudeville circuit of early-20th-century America, but it has long since taken its place as the venerable and beloved anthem of baseball. Of course, modern fans do not include the original verse when they sing the refrain during the seventh-inning stretch. The fact that the lyrics are about a young woman's deep love of the game would greatly surprise them. Katie Casey "saw all the games, knew all the players by their first names." The song has been illustrated often, in myriad styles and techniques. Hirao creates a cast of enthusiastic animals to populate the teams and spectators at Sluggers Stadium. While the fans, including Katie the cat, are of mostly domesticated varieties, the players are alligators, giraffes, elephants, hippos and other wildlife. It's a visual tour de force, with double-page spreads of large, action-packed, brilliantly colored scenes in startlingly off-center perspective. A Carly Simon CD accompanies the book, and youngsters will have a wonderful time reading and singing along. In a charming note, Simon provides some surprising information about her connection to both the song and Jackie Robinson. Joyous fun for all. (illustrator's note) (Picture book. 2 & up)

Kirkus Reviews