We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

Written & Illustrated by: Kadir Nelson

Hyperion Books for Children ©2008

ISBN#: 9780786808328

In We Are the Ship, Kadir Nelson follows the history of baseball for African Americans. He cleverly labels his chapters as innings, starting from when baseball was invented, sometime in the mid-1800s, and going all the way to when baseball became integrated. This intriguing book is a social history presented as a photo essay. Kadir Nelson masterfully blends his story of Negro League Baseball with beautiful paintings of historical photographs. Nelson writes from the perspective of someone who is there experiencing life with these historical baseball players. “The Brooklyn Bushwicks used to freeze the balls before the game, took the life out of ‘em. When we hit ‘em, they wouldn’t go very far” (Nelson 57). He also uses a dialect in his writing that puts the reader in the story and makes the story more interesting to read. This book also includes acknowledgments, bibliography, filmography, endnotes, and an index making it easy for a reader to find information quickly.

This book could be used in many different mini-literature studies. A teacher could use it to model dialect or to represent the first person narrative style. Another way this book could be used is in a book study for a history class. The teacher could make groups and have each group read a different story about African Americans’ struggle for equal rights.

We Are the Ship was a Texas Bluebonnet Nominee for 2009-2010. It also won the 2009 Coretta Scott King Book Award.

Horn Book Magazine—“Imagine listening to baseball legends Willie Mays and Ernie Banks swapping stories about their Negro League days as they sit in the stands, munching on peanuts and watching Ken Griffey Jr. launch a curve ball into the stratosphere. That kind of easygoing, conversational storytelling is exactly what Kadir Nelson achieves in this pitch-perfect history of Negro League baseball” (Auger).

Booklist—“If the story is the pitch, though, it’s the artwork that blasts the book into the stands. Nelson often works from a straight-on vantage point, as if the players took time out of the action to peer at the viewer from history, eyes leveled and challenging, before turning back to the field of play”(Chipman).

Works Cited:

Auger, Tanya D. "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball." Horn Book Magazine 84.3 (2008): 338-339. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.

Chipman, Ian. "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball." Booklist 104.11 (2008): 50. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Oct. 2010.