Coming Home

 

Coming Home: A Story of Josh Gibson, Baseball’s Greatest Home Run Hitter by Nanette Mellage.  Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu.

Grade level: K – 3

Genre: Biography

Do you know who Josh Gibson is?  If not, then you need to read this book!  Find out who he was and what he did that was so impressing to all who saw it.  Also, you can learn a little about our countries past by reading this book.  It is a great story for any baseball lover to read!

This is a great story that teaches young children about baseball’s past.  It begins by explaining how, back when Josh Gibson played, baseball teams were segregated and African Americans were not allowed to play in the major leagues.  This may be a little tough for beginner readers to read on their own, but if it is read to them, younger kids will definitely enjoy it!  Each page includes a full page illustration that, especially the pictures within the ballpark, makes the reader really feel like part of the story.  The way the story is told allows for the reader to wonder what will happen as the author explains the great competition between two teams and the game when Josh Gibson hit his biggest home run. 

I really enjoyed this book.  I find it really well written, especially since there is an excitement feeling that comes with wanting to find out what will happen during the baseball game.  It tells the story in a way that children will not be left bored with nothing but facts.  I definitely would consider using this in a classroom because it describes segregation in a child-friendly way, but also shows that these African American baseball players were no different than the major league players of the time.  I also really liked that in the back of the book the author included some more back information on both the baseball competition that was discussed in the story, along with some more biographical information on Josh Gibson. 

This story meets MA standard 3 in reading informational text in third grade which states, “Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.”  This can be done by discussing how the segregation laws caused all African American baseball players to play in their own league, instead of the Major Leagues with other great baseball players.  It also meets MA standard 6 in reading informational text in third grade which states, “Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.”  This can be done because students who don’t like baseball will be able to discuss why they may not have gotten as excited as the author did while watching Josh Gibson play baseball and hit his great home run.