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Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems

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Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems

Hardcover

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Hardcover
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Overview

Baseball is a game of fine points and grand gestures, small blunders and bold accomplishments—the hook slide into second, the humble bunt, the unexpected wild pitch, the bases-loaded home run. Poet and baseball fan Marjorie Maddox pays tribute to these and other details that make the national pastime an enduring and engaging sport for players and fans alike. Surprising wordplay and keen images offer a unique perspective of the classic American game. John Sandford’s memorable characters and scenes play up the drama.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532697357
Publisher:	Resource Publications
Publication date:	11/19/2019
Pages:	34
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Marjorie Maddox grew up with baseball, and she and her family have continued the rich tradition of the sport. She is the great grandniece of Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who helped break the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson to the Major Leagues. She lives in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series. A professor of English at Lock Haven University, she is the author of a dozen collections of poetry, a short story collection, and four children's books. For more information, visit: www.marjoriemaddox.com.

John Sandford has illustrated many books, including Down Buttermilk Lane by Barbara Mitchell; Moonstick: The Seasons of the Sioux by Eve Bunting; and The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers by Caroline Arnold. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Rules of the Game

“Maddox comes right over the heart of the plate with these gems, exploring all aspects of our great game. If you’re a fan, you’ll love her way with words (peanuts and Cracker Jack optional).”

—Paul B. Janeczko, author of That Sweet Diamond: Baseball Poems

“These energetic baseball poems are as intricate as the game itself. They’re full of playful language and baseball truths.”

—Rich Wallace, author of Wrestling Sturbridge and the Winning Season sports series

“These poems are delightful, evocative glimpses of the beauty and substance behind baseball. Short, quick, and playful, they evoke classic baseball poems by Robert Francis and Marianne Moore, while remaining accessible to children and interesting to adults.”

—Tim Wiles, coeditor of Line Drives:100 Contemporary Baseball Poems

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5-8
In this collection of approximately 40 brief poems, Maddox focuses on aspects of the game from pitching and hitting to base-running and fielding. Her carefully constructed word pictures offer dramatic snapshots of infield flies and collisions between fielders, sacrifice bunts, balks and pitch-outs, stolen bases, and grand slams. "A Strike by any other name is a (sometimes) foul, is a swing/that swats only air, is doing nothing when the ball's right there-/three times is an out is an out is an out." An umpire and a player face off in the large illustration laid across one spread: under the umpire, the poem "Out" concludes "...all hard-pitched hope outthrown, thrown out/of luck, of heart, of the hard heat of summer/and what won't be." On the facing page, the poem "Safe" states, "...What-could-be hunkers down here,/dares to snare the numbers,/spike out the sure thing,/outlaw the out." Compact yet full of meaning, these selections offer glimpses of the game's pleasures and poignant moments. Sandford's black-and-white pencil drawings add to the drama, focusing viewers' attention on the gangly pitcher's calculating gaze or the single-minded pursuit of the pony-tailed infielder. Maddox's whimsical wordplay will be savored by casual sports fans and hardcore baseball addicts alike.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

A singularly unattractive, cramped design does nothing to help this collection of baseball-themed poems. From "Balk" to "Grand Slam," 42 poems tackle seemingly every aspect of play, even including the defunct "Catch on Bound" rule that hasn't pertained for eons. Some of the imagery is nicely apt: from "Home Run," "Anything less is a slice. / Hungry, you want the whole pie. / With the ball out of sight past the wall, / you crave every last crumb of the run..." Internal rhymes and wordplay provide most of the energy that drives this particular engine, and at their best, they're good fun. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of poems-often four to a spread, all rendered in the same tightly leaded lines of type in a 13-point font-overwhelms readers. Sandford's pencil illustrations, some hyperrealistic, some more playful (a startled batter, Band-aid on his hand, jumps out of the path of a "Beanball"), are set on an unvaried pale-orange background; the relentless visual sameness of each spread combines with the mass of print on the page to strike this one out. (Picture book/poetry. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Rules of the Game

“Maddox comes right over the heart of the plate with these gems, exploring all aspects of our great game. If you’re a fan, you’ll love her way with words (peanuts and Cracker Jack optional).”

—Paul B. Janeczko, author of That Sweet Diamond: Baseball Poems

“These energetic baseball poems are as intricate as the game itself. They’re full of playful language and baseball truths.”

—Rich Wallace, author of Wrestling Sturbridge and the Winning Season sports series

“These poems are delightful, evocative glimpses of the beauty and substance behind baseball. Short, quick, and playful, they evoke classic baseball poems by Robert Francis and Marianne Moore, while remaining accessible to children and interesting to adults.”

—Tim Wiles, coeditor of Line Drives:100 Contemporary Baseball Poems

From the Publisher