Baseball's Best: Five True Stories (Step Into Reading Level 5: Ready for Chapters)

Guttelle details one outstanding accomplishment of five different major-league baseball Hall of Famers: Babe Ruth's often disputed "called" home run, Joe Dimaggio's record 56 consecutive game hitting streak, Jackie Robinson's breaking the major league baseball "color barrier," Robert Clemente's 300th hit and tragic death, and Henry Aaron's 715 home runs that broke Ruth's seemingly invincible record. Each is described in less than ten pages, allowing for little background information about either the feat or the ballplayer. Undistinguished illustrations and stock black-and-white photographs accompany the text. No table of contents or appendices are included. While the book is factually accurate, there is some fictionalizing of thought and dialogue, and the writing style is quite dry despite the inclusion of an occasional exclamatory sentence. Strictly for voracious young baseball fans. --Tom S. Hurlburt, Rio Rancho Public Library, NM