James E. Kelley

I liked this book for two reasons. First, the writing is organized. There is a table of contents in the beginning of the book that clearly labels where to find specific information about baseball. Also, each page has a heading that is written in large, bold text. This way, readers can easily flip to any page of the book and be able to quickly identify what information can be found on that page. In addition, each image has a caption so that readers are able to understand what the image is showing. Second, the illustrations enhance the book. There are numerous images on every page that readers can use to help fully understand parts of the book. For example, for the section titled, “The Diamond,” readers can gain information about what a baseball diamond is. Under the text, there is a large image of a baseball diamond that has the various components labeled. Although the text is detailed and descriptive, it is difficult to understand what a baseball diamond looks like without a picture. Incorporating vivid pictures in this book helps make the information more comprehensible. The big idea of this book is to teach readers all about baseball. It discusses the history, positions, necessary equipment, famous players, and much more.… (more)

I liked this book for several reasons. First, the language of the book was appropriate for a child to read. Larger words were bolded with a definition and even a pronunciation key for last names of famous past baseball players. the illustrations are a huge part of this book. They really help the children reading the book comprehend the text and understand it better. Time lines are a huge part of this book and they allows the child reading it to understand when big events happened in the baseball industry. There are no characters in this book, but the book does a great job of starting with early american baseball then progressing to the current state of the game. The main idea of this message is just the facts of the history of baseball.… (more)

Baseball, part of the Dorling Kindersly Eyewitness series of books, is a great way for middle grade readers to learn more about the game – it's rules, equipment, players and history. This book also comes with a CD ROM with clip art to create other baseball themed pages or art. The text is simple and explanatory, with the usual white background and chunked pages. Each two or four page spread is a subsection with a short introduction followed by captioned images. This successful formula works well for many young readers of non-fiction and reluctant readers of many ages.… (more)