by Moe Zilla

Created on: September 15, 2010

The book opens with a little girl throwing a baseball to her mother. "'No!' Mama told me. 'Make me reach for it. Make me jump.'" Then the mother confides that she needs a job, and the little girl narrating reveals that it's wartime. Her father "was in the army fighting for our country," and her mother hopes to get a position in the women's baseball league.

It seems lonely, and the family's ordinary life on the homefront is revealed with poignant details. The girl's grandfather keeps pointing out that he'd fought in the first war, and after dinner the family listens to "The Jack Benny Show" on the radio, which had been the girl's father's favorite.  "I wondered if Dad was listening, too," she thinks. And the next day, they drive to the baseball stadium where Mama tries out for the baseball league.

It's a surprisingly serious story, and the girl watches nervously as her mother competes against a long line of women, first catching baseballs and then hitting them. When Mama finally makes the team, the girl's grandmother helps them celebrate by baking a cake with icing and sprinkles. But while they eat it, they still keep their radio on in the background. "We listened to news of the war, and I thought about dad."

"At bedtime Mama told me she hoped the war would end soon so Dad would come home. I hoped so too."

Author David A. Adler has written other somber books about baseball, including one about the life of Lou Gehrig. I remember reading "The Babe and I," about a poor newsboy in the Bronx who discovers his father has lost his job during the great depression, and is now selling apples on the street. David A. Adler has also written eight children's books about the Holocaust, including "A Picture Book of Anne Frank." He's not just interested in baseball, but also American history, and while his books are sometimes about sports, they're also about the people who play them, and the humble families that watch.

The little girl's mother is often away from home, and when she returns the girl asks her mother for an autograph. "You don't need my autograph," the other says, but the little girl insists that she does. "I want it because you're a great baseball player and because you're my mother," she says.  Illustrator Chris O'Leary draws the mother, gently lowering her head to sign the baseball.

The book's oil-paint illustrations seem to use "Americana" colors, like the bright oranges and dull greens that you'd find in an old-fashioned needlepoint embroidery.  But there's only one page that shows an actual baseball game, since the book is really about the girl's family. One day the girl's mother says she has a surprise, and takes the little girl to a bus station. Her father is getting off the bus, and the reunited family finally goes home together. "The war was over," says the little girl narrating.

"My dad was home."

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