You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!

by Jonah Winter, Terry Widener (Illustrator)

Overview

Many believe baseball great Willie Mays to be the best player that ever lived. He hit 660 home runs (fourth best of all time), had a lifetime batting average of .302, and is second only to Babe Ruth on The Sporting News's list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players."

In Jonah Winter and Terry Widener's fascinating picture book biography, young readers can follow Mays's unparalleled career from growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, to playing awe-inspiring ball in the Negro Leagues and then the Majors, where he was center fielder for the New York (later San Francisco) Giants. Complete with sidebars filled with stats, here is a book for all baseball lovers, young and old.

"The Say Hey Kid had style to spare, and so does this irrepressible book." —Booklist, Starred

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101934210
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/08/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	128,767
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jonah Winter and Terry Widener collaborated on one previous picture book, Steel Town. Jonah is also the author of You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!, which received three starred reviews; Here Comes the Garbage Barge!, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; and Dizzy, the recipient of Best Book of the Year citations from Booklist, School Library Journal, Horn Book, The Bulletin, and Kirkus Reviews. His other picture book biographies include Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Diego, and Frida, a Parents' Choice Gold Medal winner. 

Terry Widener's acclaimed picture books include Lou Gerhrig, The Luckiest Man, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book, and IRA Teachers' Choice; and America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book, Child Magazine Best Book of the Year, and School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Starred Review, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2013:
“Even adults who are indifferent to baseball will likely be so drawn into Mays’ story and Winter’s rousing text that they’ll want to gather up a crowd just to read this one aloud.”

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, December 3, 2012:
“A must-have for baseball fans.”

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2012:
“An all-star gem to share with grandparents, parents, children, baseball fans and anyone else.”

Starred Review, Booklist, September 1, 2012:
“The Say Hey Kid had style to spare, and so does this irrepressible book.”

Editorial Reviews

Winter’s heartfelt, accessible text is infused with immediacy and enthusiasm…. Magnificent biography.”  —The New York Times Book Review

Starred Review, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2013:
“Even adults who are indifferent to baseball will likely be so drawn into Mays’ story and Winter’s rousing text that they’ll want to gather up a crowd just to read this one aloud.”

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, December 3, 2012:
“A must-have for baseball fans.”

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2012:
“An all-star gem to share with grandparents, parents, children, baseball fans and anyone else.”

Starred Review, Booklist, September 1, 2012:
“The Say Hey Kid had style to spare, and so does this irrepressible book.

From the Publisher

…magnificent…Winter's heartfelt, accessible text…is infused with immediacy and enthusiasm…Widener's lush, expressive paintings pull the reader right into the game.

The New York Times Book Review - Pamela Paul

Winter and Widener, who previously teamed up on Steel Town, return with a stellar companion to Winter’s equally superb You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! Like its predecessor, this profile of Hall of Famer Mays immediately grabs attention with its lenticular cover; however, it’s Mays’s on-the-field feats that cement his place in baseball lore, especially that unbelievable catch during the 1954 World Series. Growing up in Birmingham, Ala., Mays “was the kid all the other kids wanted on their team.” Before long, his talent is recognized and, at age 15, he got his start in the Negro Leagues. “Suddenly, this teenage kid was makin’ more money than his pop,” writes Winter in the colloquial voice of a practiced raconteur. “And when, the year after that, the major leagues ended their stupid rule barrin’ black guys, there was a ray of hope that one day Willie might play in the majors, like Joe DiMaggio.” Widener’s smoky, smudgy acrylics project the determination and dedication that took Mays from industrial, segregated Birmingham to the national stage. A must-have for baseball fans. Ages 4–9. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

The greatest baseball player of all time?! In an unabashedly adulatory bio of New York Giants and later San Francisco Giants and later still New York Mets center fielder, Winter drives his point home. With folksy pen in hand, he rounds the bases and scores in this life of a Negro League and National League star. Mays could run the bases, field his position, hit, win games and wow the crowds. In this companion to You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! (illustrated by André Carrilho, 2009), the author distills a career with great skill. Special attention is given to his legendary plays, the Throw and the Catch, and other spectacular feats, with Winter either paraphrasing or quoting from radio broadcasts. Additional facts are presented in ticket-shaped sidebars. Widener's superb acrylic paintings on chipboard capture every glorious moment, more so than the grainy black-and-white cameras of the time. And the cover?! Mays' powerful swing is reenacted in lenticular movement. Unlike Jackie Robinson, Mays never marched in civil rights protests. He believed that he proved his worth in the ballpark, and Winter's presentation supports this. Say hey! An all-star gem to share with grandparents, parents, children, baseball fans and anyone else. (author's note, career highlights, glossary of baseball terms, online resources) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews