{"product_id":"take-me-out-to-the-ball-game-isbn-9781623540715","title":"Take Me Out to the Ball Game","description":"Get out the peanuts and Cracker Jacks and get ready for fun with America's national sport. The unofficial anthem of baseball has never looked better than it does in this joyful board book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA sweet, boardbook introduction to the baseball diamond. Colorful, collage-like illustrations are a kid's ticket into \"Sluggers Stadium,\" where two animal teams step up to the plate and vie for victory--all cheered on by Katie Casey, the baseball-loving cat. And what a game it is! Giraffe winds up at the pitcher's mound, hoping for a strikeout. But, with a thwack, ball meets bat, and Crocodile is off and running. Can Tiger tag him out at first? He'd better, because Elephant's up next and that will cause a commotion.♦ The song may have been written by a man who had never been to a game,  and it was first sung on the vaudeville circuit of early-20th-century  America, but it has long since taken its place as the venerable and  beloved anthem of baseball. Of course, modern fans do not include the  original verse when they sing the refrain during the seventh-inning  stretch. The fact that the lyrics are about a young woman's deep love of  the game would greatly surprise them. Katie Casey \"saw all the games,  knew all the players by their first names.\" The song has been  illustrated often, in myriad styles and techniques. Hirao creates a cast  of enthusiastic animals to populate the teams and spectators at  Sluggers Stadium. While the fans, including Katie the cat, are of mostly  domesticated varieties, the players are alligators, giraffes,  elephants, hippos and other wildlife. It's a visual tour de force, with  double-page spreads of large, action-packed, brilliantly colored scenes  in startlingly off-center perspective. A Carly Simon CD accompanies the  book, and youngsters will have a wonderful time reading and singing  along. In a charming note, Simon provides some surprising information  about her connection to both the song and Jackie Robinson. Joyous fun  for all.\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis ode to Norworth's beloved anthem includes the song's little-known  verses about \"Katie Casey,\" who is depicted as a baseball-obsessed cat.  When Katie's \"beau\" (a white dog) asks Katie to the movies, she instead  suggests a trip to the stadium. There, they root, root, root for the  home team, which includes a giraffe, zebra, and elephant. Sometimes  awkward phrasing and meter (\"When the score was 2-2,\/ Katie Casey, she  had the clue,\/ to cheer on the boys,\/ she knew just what to do\") may  explain why the verses don't have the popularity of the chorus, but fans  should still enjoy Hirao's dynamic scenes of ballpark action. An  included CD features Carly Simon's performance of the song and two  others.\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt wouldn't be baseball season without a new rendition of \"Take Me Out  to the Ball Game.\" This one includes a three song CD by Carly Simon, who  has altered a few of the lyrics to modernize the language and added an  interesting note about Jackie Robinson living with her family from 1954  to 1955. The main purpose here seems mainly to be to showcase the CD,  which was originally recorded for the Ken Burns PBS program. The  illustrations are vibrant and pleasing and make full use of each spread  as feline Katie Casey, an avid baseball fan, spends every cent she has  to go and \"root for the hometown crew.\" There is plenty of ballpark  activity crammed into each scene, and the animal characters are amusing,  if sometimes busy. Name recognition will raise interest in this book,  mainly among adults.\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eJack Norworth\u003c\/b\u003e was an American songwriter, singer, and vaudeville performer. He is credited as being one of a collection of New York-based songwriters and lyricists that made up Tin Pan Alley in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. \"Take Me Out to the Ballgame,\" for which Jack wrote the lyrics, was his longest-lasting hit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmiko Hirao\u003c\/b\u003e earned a degree in art history in her  native Japan, and later graduated from the Rhode Island School of  Design. She has illustrated four children's books, including \u003ci\u003eTulip at the Bat\u003c\/i\u003e by J. Patrick Lewis, \u003ci\u003eHow the Fisherman Tricked the Genie\u003c\/i\u003e by Christopher Sunami, and \u003ci\u003eAll Aboard\u003c\/i\u003e by Mary Lyn Ray. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.Katie Casey was baseball mad.\u003cbr\u003eShe had the fever and she had it bad.\u003cbr\u003eJust to root for the hometown crew,\u003cbr\u003eevery cent, that Katie spent.","brand":"Charlesbridge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304195870949,"sku":"NP9781623540715","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781623540715.jpg?v=1767737725","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game-isbn-9781623540715","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}