Historical Fiction Picture Book: The Kid from Diamond Street

Title: The Kid from Diamond Street
Author: Audrey Vernick
Publication: 2016

When trying to summarize this book, writer Audrey Vernick does it well in her "Note from the Author" section of her book. She says, "Baseball isn't just numbers and statistics, men and boys. Baseball is also ten-year-old girls, marching across a city to try out for a team intended for players twice their age" (Vernick).

Personally, being both a female and an athlete, I was particularly drawn to this book because of the protagonist, Edith Houghton, a famous female baseball player. She defies odds by joining the female baseball team of women much older than her. In the era she was born, women were not known to play baseball. So by her playing and being good, she proved people and the status-quo wrong. I am all about female empowerment and defying the odds and showing people that women can be just as talented as men in sports. In particular, this book relates to my personal motto and resonated with me as an athlete and female. I hope other readers can gain a sense of "you can do anything you but your mind to" attitude, while also realizing that stereotypes like, baseball = men, are flexible and changeable.

Some of the elements I like most about the book were the ways Vernick ingeniously weaves in historical context with the storyline to give the reader a better understanding of what life was like during the early 1900's. Similarly to the Turtle Tracks book I posted about in my first blog post, Vernick adds a more in-dept detailed description of Edith Houghton at the end of the book to give the reader more information about the protagonist. By leaving the smaller details and facts for the appendix, Vernick is able to tell a more gripping and interesting story. Lastly, the element that stood out to me the most was the delicate, detailed, and beautifully drawn illustrations. The photos really catch your eye and keep the reader enticed to keep turning the pages of the book. I would love to use this book in my classroom to teach my kids about a historical figure, while also giving them an interesting story line, and helping them learn to reach for the stars.

Above, one of the beautiful illustrations I spoke of in my critique.