Friday, March 11, 2016

Baseball’s Greatest Hitters by S.A.Kramer – NO

Kramer, S.A. Baseball’s Greatest Hitters Random House, 2015. $16.95 EARLY READER/NON-FICTION
Oh Wow, this is a no holds bar set of mini biographies that are VERY MATURE. There is knife fights, spitting, tantrums, racism, drunk driving, performance enhancing drugs and more. Featured athletes are Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Miguel Cabrera.
I wouldn’t touch this book to save my life for level 5 readers (listed as 2-4 grade on the Random house website). I realize this is the real life of these athletes but to these younger readers these people are heroes! Which means they literally will think that correlation equals causation..i.e. bad behavior is how these people became skilled and how skilled people act. I don’t think we should sugar coat reality, but for younger readers maybe we could focus more on the sports and less on the PG13 life antics. Seriously Hank Aarons, thank you for having an elementary reader safe life, a real sports hero!! This book would work for 5-6 grade but then again, they don’t ever seek out early readers, not even for fun. This book is an absolute NO.
EL(K-3) –NO Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.

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