The Babe Ruth Ballet School

Features

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 32 pages
• Published by: Firefly Books September 1, 1996
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1552090302
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1552090305
• Book Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Weighs: 14.4 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Despite a dynamite opening line ("The last 9-year-old girl to play Big League baseball was Issy Archer of the 1923 New York Yankees"), this picture book debut quickly unravels. Issy's famous spitball makes her as celebrated a pitcher as her best friend Babe Ruth is a hitter, and the two pal around after games. Issy's secret penchant for dancing, however, puts a strain on the friendship (she's afraid he'll laugh at her). Instead, Babe takes up hoofing himself, crediting ballet lessons for his success on the baseball diamond. The childlike premise gives way to an adult sensibility, evident in the arch narration and in winking references to Ernest Hemingway, but clearest in the art. Shortt renders his figures as troll-like caricatures with oversized heads and foreshortened bodies, giving them sour, creepy expressions. A flatfooted fantasy. All ages.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-3?This peculiar book features baseball great Babe Ruth and nine-year-old Issy Archer, an aspiring ballet dancer who's also a successful pitcher for the 1923 New York Yankees. The girl and Babe are best friends, and while he at first balks at her desire to dance, he later begins taking lessons himself, which significantly improves his hitting. She finally decides to give up baseball to devote herself to ballet; in Issy's final game, the Babe comes off his sick-bed to hit a home run after which the two dance together into center field. The story starts slowly and never picks up steam. While most of the picture-book set will not be familiar with Ruth, the insertion of the dancing scenes will probably bewilder the few young baseball fans who know his name. The highlight of the book is the outstanding artwork that runs across three-fourths of each double-page spread. The colorful caricatures of Ruth and some of his contemporaries are well rendered and quite expressive in a goofy, deadpan sort of way. For a better mixture of the Babe and fiction try Donald Hall's When Willard Met Babe Ruth (Harcourt, 1996), which is aimed at a slightly older audience.?Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.