Murphy's Ticket: The Goofy Start and Glorious End of the Chicago Cubs Billy Goat Curse

K-Gr 4--Most baseball and sports fan will know about the history-making win of the Chicago Cubs at the 2016 World Series, but do they know that the "Lovable Losers" were once believed to be cursed? The story of Murphy the Goat and the billy goat's curse is the stuff of legends in the Second City, but even those familiar with the details will be enthralled by the rollicking rhymes describing the fateful events that brought on the curse. Fans will become believers all over again as they read about season after dreadful season. Told in three alternating rhymed quatrains per page and peppered with North Side jargon, the narration is well executed. This title adds to Herzog's repertoire of successful sports offerings (2004's H Is for Home Run: A Baseball Alphabet). Whimsical full-page illustrations inject pain into the team's woeful times and revelry into their fortunate ones, providing an old-fashioned feeling throughout the tale. VERDICT A grand slam of an ode to the Chicago Cubs. Consider wherever sports and underdog stories are popular.--Brittany Drehobl, Eisenhower Public Library District, Harwood Heights, IL