The Journal of Biddy Owens, the Negro Leagues, Birmingham, Alabama 1948

by Walter Dean Myers

Overview

Newbery and Coretta Scott King award-winning author Walter Dean Myers's baseball story THE JOURNAL OF BIDDY OWENS is now available in paperback, with an exciting repackaging!

Seventeen-year-old Biddy Owens is part of the Birmingham Black Barons baseball team and dreams of becoming a major league baseball player. However, in 1948 most black players can only play for the Negro Leagues. Jackie Robinson has just recently integrated and is playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the white owners are reluctant to add too many blacks to their rosters. The Birmingham Black Barons are some of the best players in the league. But as they travel around playing ball, Biddy realizes that not everyone is ready for blacks and whites to play on the same team. Can Biddy prove he's good enough to be part of the game his loves, no matter what color his skin is?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545530507
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	182,182
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	950L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Walter Dean Myers is the 2012 - 2013 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. He is the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author an award-winning body of work which includes, SOMEWHERE IN THE DARKNESS, SLAM!, and MONSTER. Mr. Myers has received two Newbery Honor medals, five Coretta Scott King Author Awards, and three National Book Award Finalists citations. In addition, he is the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Editorial Reviews

It is Opening Day in 1948 for the Birmingham Black Barons. Seventeen-year-old Biddy Owens, their equipment manager and sometime right fielder, shares the excitement at Rickwood Field, best Negro League stadium in the country. Award-winning author Myers (who once played sandlot baseball) chronicles the fate of the team through a diary the fictional Biddy keeps from May till October, recording details of their games, travels on the team bus, admiration for talented players, and the love of all the players for the game. In his observations and emotions, Biddy reveals much about the state of baseball at the time and, sadly, the discrimination players of the Negro League endure while touring, not only in the South. Especially poignant is the time their catcher is arrested and beaten up for taking a picture of a dog drinking from a "white only" fountain. But it is not all bad—though they are often tired and sometimes must sleep on the bus, games are exciting, black churchgoers are kind, and tension mounts as the season advances and the Barons have a chance at the Negro League World Series. A new player named Willie Mays has joined them and, near the end, a young Hank Aaron. Since Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby are playing with major-league teams, scouts are everywhere; some players predict that an end to segregation may mean the end of the Negro Leagues. Myers adds background in a historical note, explaining that, as more excellent black players were absorbed, attendance dropped at Negro League games and, indeed, 1948 saw their last world series. Readers will be drawn to the engaging Biddy as they sense his growing maturity over the summer, while adults, too, will be fascinated by the black-and-white photos of historic games, players, and teams, including the real Birmingham Black Barons. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft

Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft