Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888

Title: Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888
Author: Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Illustrated: Christopher Bing
Published: Scholastic Inc. New York
Date: 2001
Summary: This a song that was sung in 1888 about a baseball player named Casey who was up to bat at a baseball game, and how he got three strikes.
Age Level: Elementary (3-4 grade)
Strengths: I really liked how this book was portrayed like a scrap book, and how the story and poem acted like newspaper clips. The cover and back cover of the book looks like an old leather book filled with different antiques of baseball. It is interesting because the reader will get a sense of what it must have been like in the year 1888. There were also other things in the story as well, such as other newspaper clips scattered all around the pages, as well as tickets and baseball coins with some teams on them, and medals. I also liked how the author on the title page called himself a "reporter" in order to make it as if this story was a real article in an old newspaper. I love the pictures in the poem as well, though they were not real pictures, but instead drawings of the characters and the baseball field.
Concerns: I wonder why Casey is the only one on the team with a mustache. In the first few pages, you see the team sitting and waiting for their turn. All of them are clean shavened, except for Casey who has a big curly mustache. Some of the other newspaper clippings got in the way of the story as well, that the reader may not concentrate. They may get distracted. Also, I do not know whether this is supposed to be a true story or not, but I wonder why the author left the story as it was. You get the feeling and the hope that Casey will hit the ball on the third try (he had two strikes), but he missed the third one as well and that was the end. The author did not say if the team won or not, but I can understand why he didn't because this story is about Casey, but no one else. Also, this was originally a song, so that's probably the way the song was supposed to go.
Comments: I think this is an interesting book to read to elementary students because they could become inspired to look at their own history and past within their family, they may want to share some stories of their own. Students can also be inspired to create their own scrap book, whether about the past or their interests in order to express themselves.