STEALING HOME

During a World Series game in 1955, Jackie Robinson electrified the crowd and astonished the baseball world by successfully stealing home. Burleigh takes that unforgettable moment and employs just the right imagery to bring it to life. Wimmer’s vivid, compelling illustrations, rendered in oils on canvas, are perfect accompaniments. Each double-paged spread features a painting across the fold, with the text printed on a background that simulates a wooden fence. Under the text, framed as a baseball card, Burleigh adds chatty vignettes containing fascinating, lesser-known biographical information about Robinson. The layout, however, creates a somewhat schizophrenic experience. Attempting to read each page thoroughly interrupts the flow of the text; reading the two components as separate works is the only solution. Younger readers in particular will have difficulty with this format and with the extremely tiny print in the “baseball card” sections. It’s unfortunate that the high level of writing and art is lessened by design choices that do not consider the needs of the reader, because the story is terrific. (Picture book. 7-10)