Casey At the Bat
The Randolph Caldecott Medal annually recognizes the preceding year's most distinguished American picture book for children. It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are the most prestigious American children's book awards. It is given to a picture book that provides "a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures."
The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are the most prestigious American children's book awards.
Casey at the Bat won the Caldecott Honor in 2001.
Hidden details: historical editorial mistake hinted by 'Proofreader Sought' ad
The balloon plays an important part in the rendering of a following illustration
Casey at the Bat is a baseball poem written in 1888 by Ernest L Thayer. It has become one of the best-known poems in American literature. Christopher Bing made the illustrations of Casey at the Bat in 2000. The illustrations won the prestigious Caldecott Honor in 2001.
"The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day; the score stood four to two with but one inning more to play." Thus begins one of the most famous poems in American history. When the powerful Mudville baseball team enters the ninth inning of their game behind by two runs, things seem pretty grim. And when the first two batters make outs, it looks like their best player, the mighty Casey, won't even get a chance to win the game for them. Then, two unlikely players get hits, and suddenly the crowd is cheering as Casey strolls to the plate.
Casey's epic at-bat has delighted generations of listeners, young and old. Richard Poe's timeless narration captures the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, and all the thrilling excitement of baseball - and life.
Critics
Publishers Weekly
Debut children's book illustrator Bing hits a home run with this handsome faux-scrapbook treatment of Thayer's immortal poem. The original verses about baseball star Casey and the ill-fated Mudville nine appeared in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888, and Bing captures the spirit of the age with pen-and-ink illustrations that look like carefully preserved newspaper clippings, complete with slightly torn and yellowed edges. He uses cross-hatching and careful shading to create the pages of The Mudville Sunday Monitor, which keenly resemble the newspaper engravings of the day. Columns of type (in historically accurate printers' fonts, as an afterword points out) run beneath each illustration to bolster the conceit. Bing also scatters other "scrapbook" items throughout, from game tickets (a bargain at 20 cents) to old-fashioned baseball cards and stereopticon imagesDmany of them carefully keyed to the text. Full-color currency, for instance, accompanies "They thought if only Casey could but get a whack at thatD/ We'd put up even money now with Casey at the bat," while an ad for Brown's Bronchial Troches appears with the couplet "Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;/ It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell." Endpapers reveal more items to delight baseball fans and history buffs, from Thayer's newspaper obituary to a fake bookplate wreathed with baseball motifs. Though Casey and the Mudville nine strike out in the end, this exceptionally clever picture book is definitely a winner. All ages. (Nov.)
Professional Reviews
"... the outlook for the possibilities of digitally manipulated design in children’s books looks increasingly brilliant as evidenced by this rather amazing version of Thayer’s well-loved baseball poem, “Casey at the Bat.”...Teachers who want to introduce the poem to students will find all the information for an entire lesson in this one volume, including the price of a small-town paper in 1888 (two cents). A solid hit." -Kirkus
"Debut children's book illustrator Bing hits a home run with this handsome faux-scrapbook treatment of Thayer's immortal poem.The original verses about baseball star Casey and the ill-fated Mudville nine appeared in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888, and Bing captures the spirit of the age with pen-and-ink illustrations that look like carefully preserved newspaper clippings, complete with slightly torn and yellowed edges." - Publishers Weekly
"In this unique version of the famous poem, the illustrator has created a beautiful book full of fascinating things to look at. Presented in the form of a scrapbook, readers can read the poem, look at the accompanying illustrations and they can also feast their eyes on all sorts of things that have been 'pasted' to the pages. ... The reader gets a real sense of the excitement that filled the stands on that day, and they are also given a wonderful picture of life in America in the late 1800's." - Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
'The immortal ballad of Ernest Thayer finds new life through Christopher Bing's innovative treatment. Pen and ink scratchboard "engravings" in late 19th-century style are seamlessly blended with memorabilia and trompe l'oeil recreations in an homage to the great American pastime.
"Using the latest technological applications, Bing has firmly placed Thayer's poem in its own historic era. Layering the illustrations with detailed contextual background and a confident, even cocky depiction of Casey, Bing brings the world of the Mudville Nine to life for a new generation," said Rockman.' - American Library Association
Reader Reviews
