New Releases by Jack Norworth

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. A 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.

In this rendering of the beloved song Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Jim Burke captures an exciting era of America''s favorite pastime - as well as the incredible story of one controversial contest that went down in the history books: In 1908, the year the anthem was written, one of the all-time most memorable match-ups in baseball history occurred when the New York Giants faced the reigning World Series champion Chicago Cubs with their greatest weapon - Christy Mathewson, the greatest pitcher in Giants history and America''s first true sports superstar. Filled with fan-pleasing trivia and nostalgic paintings, here is a remarkable orchestration that brings the sights, sounds and smells of the ballpark, a century ago, vividly to life.