The Story of the Los Angeles Dodgers

February 1, 2012
Grades 5-8 The ongoing Baseball: The Great American Game series has some great things going for it. The writing is engaging and the eye-popping yet tasteful format is an immediate draw. Using a thick stock of paper, the oversize volumes feature fascinating, well-reproduced vintage photos and crisp color pictures from more recent eras. The only criticism is that the photos of superstars appear randomly throughout rather than being arranged historically. This awkwardly disrupts the narrative, as does the way the text identifies players. But readers looking for information on their favorite teams will surely find it here. The Story of the Los Angeles Dodgers both pays homage to the Brooklyn Dodgers and looks at the team's highlights once it had moved west. Legendary names like Koufax get play, and the book tries to put the best spin on the team's mediocre recent past. There's no back matter in the books, but that's okayplenty of stats are tucked within the pages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)