Just Like Josh Gibson

I’m starting to see a theme in Angela Johnson’s books-most have them have black characters, and involve family. Just Like Josh Gibson is about a little girl’s grandma telling her about a famous baseball player and how her own father had a baseball bat and glove in her hand since she was born, always practicing baseball with her, for as long as she could remember. As a child, the grandma always wanted to play baseball with the boys, but the boys never let her. However, one day one of the players got her so she was able to play, and ended up doing an amazing job, just like Josh Gibson. The story ends with the grandma showing her pictures from when she played baseball as a kid and showing the baseball she used. I loved the last page-it is a biography on the real-life baseball player, Josh Gibson. It explains how he was called “the Babe Ruth of the Negro Leagues”, and how he suffered and died from a stroke three months before African-Americans were allowed in the major leagues.

This has been one of my favorite picture books by Angela Johnson. I love the idea of having a girl in a dress that loves sports, because it kind of reminds me of myself when I was that age. Ever since I could remember, my dad was always playing soccer with me, and when it was “cool” to start liking boys and doing girly things in elementary school, I would be out there with the boys playing soccer. The boys had the same attitude towards me that the boys in the story had towards the girl’s grandma-they weren’t too pleased to be playing with a girl. I think this book gives a great message, especially to girls, that it’s okay to be different (for example, to love and play sports!) even if that’s not the “norm”. Also, I love how the famous baseball player Angela talks about is actually real.