This book was about a true event but wasn't a true story. It had made up characters. This book was about a young black boy living in Chicago He enjoys listening to Cubs games. He dreams of becoming a Major Leaguer but that dream is still impossible in 1942 when there was still a color barrier. He learns a lot about his world and where he stands in it. But he still never loses hope. He ends up getting tickets to a baseball game at Wrigley Field and watches the Negro Leaguers play. The illustrations are very good. They really help tell the story. There is a lot of emotion drawn in like on the faces of the characters and in the town in general. The text also had a lot of emotion in it. There was a lot of description and adjectives to make you feel like you were there following Willie around. It made it really dramatic. It incorporates a lot of diversity. His best friend is white and the neighborhood that he lives in is very mixed, but they still had to use different drinking fountains and bathrooms. I think this book would be very good to read and have in your classroom. It tells a good story and baseball is a huge American past time. It also shows how far we have come in this country from complete segregation to inclusion (even though it still isn't great.) If would be great to use in a segregation unit to bring the point home that segregation happened everywhere. Very emotionally touching book.
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