Luke Goes to Bat

by Rachel Isadora

Upset over the way he played stickball with the neighborhood kids on Bedford Avenue, young Luke is about ready to give up his dreams of playing for the majors until his grandfather takes him see his hero, Jackie Robinson, play at Ebbets Field and learns an important lesson about determination and perseverance.

Genres: Picture Books, Sports, Baseball, Childrens, Family, Historical Fiction, African American

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Rachel Isadora is an award-winning children's author and illustrator. She has written children's books on multiple topics including ballet, life in America and Africa, and has illustrated several Brother Grimm tales in an African setting. She is most well-known for her Caldecott Honor Award book "Ben's Trumpet". She was a ballet dancer before she became an illustrator and children's writer.

Reviews

[Emily Mote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: Luke dreams of being as talented as his hero, Jackie Robinson. When he discovers that he is at first no good at baseball, he has to learn that true hero's never give up.

Teaching Ideas: I would use this book in February to celebrate black history month. Luke and the other characters re African American's, and his hero Jackie Robinson is one of the most well-known and talented African-American baseball players in history. I would read this book as an interactive read-aloud, and then let the students write about their own personal hero.

Evaluation: I think this is an overall good book. It teaches an important lesson. I think African-American's are positively portrayed in this book, which is important. This book accurately captures the innocence and dreams of children. The illustrations are beautiful! I would recommend this book to others.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luke longs for his chance to play baseball with the older kids. He idolizes Jackie Robinson. When the other kids need another player, Luke steps in but strikes out--twice. His grandma encourages him to never give up and takes him to a Dodgers game. Nicely done and perfect for boys who long to play ball!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luke loves baseball, but the big kids will not let him play and when they do, he strikes out. Luke gets very discouraged but with the help of his grandmother and Jackie Robinson, Luke soon finds his love for sport again.
This book has a great lesson included-don’t give up. It also has events that stand out, so sequencing would be a reachable goal for first graders. Students can easily retell the story and understand the message.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a positive message of being resilient and never giving up when things get difficult and colorful illustrations with expressive characters, this book is great to read aloud with children.

A willingness to put in the extra effort, not shying away from hard work, the determination to improve, and a positive mental attitude are all worthy character traits that our children can and should learn. Books like this show them good examples and excellent role models like Jackie Robinson.

[Jacelyn Neuleib · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Luke Goes to Bat" is a story about a boy growing up in Brooklyn who idolizes Jackie Robinson but never gets picked for the street baseball team. The older players believe Luke isn't good enough, and when Luke finally gets picked to play, he strikes out twice. Luke's Grandma can tell that he is upset, so she assures him that even Jackie Robinson makes mistakes and must persevere. She decides to prove this fact to him and takes him to a game at Ebbett's field, where they watch Jackie Robinson almost strike out. At the last pitch, Jackie Robinson hits a home run and Luke learns that a player can't give up just because they've done poorly in the past. Luke goes home to find the home run ball has landed on top of his apartment.

[Brent Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good children's story, set in the background of Ebbets Field during the heyday of Jackie Robinson. This book also gives an important message about not giving up on yourself, no matter how stacked the odds are against you.

[Alexis Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel Isadora does an amazing job creating a very relatable story focused on a sport. There is always an issue with finding books for boys in the classroom to enjoy, this book is perfect for capturing interests.

[Corrine Nevel]

This is a book I feel as though a lot of students I have dealt with already throughout my tutoring and field experience could relate to! It teaches a great lesson in the end - which is to never give up.

[Alicia Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple story with a good message. But you're a baseball-is-a-metaphor-for-life kind of person or you're not. I'm not so this one doesn't resonate with me.

[Alistair Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like base ball its one of favorite sports

[Avery Snipes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this story, because it teaches self-encouragement and shows children that they can believe in themselves and accomplish anything regardless of what anyone says.

[Alaina Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great story about Luke that included a lot of diversity which is not seen as often as it should in books.

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to model for kids not to give up, even if things take practice.

[Set · Rating 4 out of 5]

It might be nostalgic to kids that live in Brooklyn and would play baseball with kids on the street. The message is to not give up on a dream when at first you don't succeed.

[Leigh Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a read full of a wonderful message to keep trying and not give up. A wonderful diverse read, with a great message, and baseball too!

[Morgan Baggett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great moral lesson about never giving up.

[Stephen Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book to show children what they can accomplish by refusing to give up and supporting others along life’s highway!

[I Contain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really sweet simple story about the power of never giving up. The presence of baseball player and civil rights hero Jackie Robinson is a nice addition.

[Elizabeth Woodruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luke is a young who is always being looked down upon. Nobody thinks he can play baseball. The older boys pay no attention to him when they are choosing teams. One day they need Luke to play so he does! He strikes out twice and everyone gives him a hard time about it. Luke goes home to his grandma who has tickets to a Dodgers game. Luke is so excited to go to the game! Jackie Robinson is one of his favorite baseball players. In the game it was tied until the very end. Jackie goes up to bat and strikes out twice. He then goes on to hit a huge homerun leading the dodgers to victory. Luke's grandma tells Luke that even Jackie has bad hits, but he kept going and made a home run!

I really liked this book. I enjoy reading books about baseball so this book was quite enjoyable for me. Luke is a young boy who is always looked down upon so he eventually begins to believe he can't do anything. His favorite player, Jackie Robinson, reminds him that it is okay to mess up but just keep trying. Luke then goes on to practice and he didn't give up on himself anymore.

I would use this book for a mini lesson about baseball in the early 1900s. I could use the book, Teammates by Peter Golenbock, in a lesson along with this book. It could also be used to talk about being different races. I recommend this book!

[Cortny Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luke Goes To Bat by Rachel Isadora is a cute little story about a boy named Luke. He wants to be a baseball player but when he finally gets a chance to play with his brother's friends, he messes up. So he decides he no longer wants to play baseball. After going to a game and having an imaginary conversation with a baseball player, Luke gets the courage to play baseball again.

This story would be perfect to do a lesson over what do you want to be when you grow up or what is something you really want to do. You can read the story to your students and have a little discussion about Luke and how he overcame his fear of playing baseball. Afterwards, you can give your students an assignment where they can write briefly about what they want to do or be when they grow up. This assignment would probably be better for a third grade or up class. After they write, have some volunteer to read what they wrote.

[Jackson Zoellner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful feel good story of a young athlete who has an emotional day at the ball park. When I was a child I didn't read many books that had sports motifs so I can't say how they made me feel back then. But I can say that this book made me shiver with the excitement that only a big league ball park can bring to a young individual. This is such a relatable situation for so many young readers who are having a tough time with sports or really want to be a big leaguer some day. This story gives them a relatable protagonist and enough adversity to make him into the hero at the end of the story. Although the setting is in the 1940's, while Jackie Robinson was playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the emotions stretch across generations. The racial aspect of the book could be focused on a little more to give the book a larger cultural lesson.

[Hailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story of Luke, who sits on the sidelines of street baseball and dreams of one day being as good as Jackie Robinson. One day Luke gets the chance to play and he strikes out twice, so naturally his confidence goes down. When he gets home his grandma surprises him with two tickets to watch Jackie Robinson play. That night even Jackie almost struck out, and it showed Luke that he just needs to keep trying.
I really enjoyed this book because it didn't seem like an non fiction book even though it was. It was just like I was reading a fun story not a real life story. The illustrations were very well done as well and not like many other illustrations ive seen before.
I would keep this on my library shelf just for fun read and it could also be read during Black History Month or even to just show my students different famous people from years ago.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The game in this story is based on an actual one that took place in Philadelphia between the Dodgers and the Phillies in 1951. In the fourteenth inning, after a ball and a strike. Jackie Robinson hit a home run that won the game 9-8 for the Dodgers." from the first page of the book.

Wonderful book to help teach children it's okay to not be 'great' the first time they attempt to do something. To keep at it and you get better. The little boy in the story wants to play ball with the big kids and when he gets the chance it doesn't go very well at all and he gets teased His grandma tells him to stay with it and practice and he'd get better. She takes him to the History making ball game with Jackie Robinson. Helping the little boy to understand what his Grandmother was telling him.

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luke is a little boy who desperately wants to take part in his older brother's games of stickball on the streets. But, he's overlooked as being to little. So he "trains" and dreams of being like Jackie Robinson. At last, one day a kid is missing so the older boys let Luke play. Unfortunately, he strikes out and feels awful about it. His grandmother takes him to Ebbets Field that night to see Jackie Robinson play, and Luke see Jackie almost strike out too. But Jackie comes through and hits a homerun that wins the game.

Later that evening, Luke is sure he found the ball Jackie hit on the roof of his apartment building, which is not too far from the stadium. The "ghost" of Jackie encourages him to keep trying.

Nice illustrations.

[Tammy Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is in our new reading series, it is a wonderful story about a little boy and his life experience of striking out. As I read this story I noticed some great vocabulary and a lot of compound words. I think I would use this book more than once for different topics. One thing I would do is use it for the lesson learned about not giving up and maybe using the image of Jackie Robinson that the boy saw. (Was it real?) After I used it for the content I would allow the students to work in pairs to find compound words in the story. Since this story discusses a game that is not played much around here and shows items from the past in the pictures I might also use it for that. Compare and contrast: stickball and baseball.

[Andrew J · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a way, I feel bad giving this book a one star rating. Penned as an imaginative book, the last couple pages made me feel like the boy was possibly schizophrenic. Luke dreams of playing his favorite sport; baseball. His brother always refuses to let him play until a friend isn't available to play. Luke strikes out, and goes to see his grandmother. She shows him two tickets to a baseball game. After the game in which his team won, Luke "imagines" seeing his favorite team and his favorite player on the roof of their building. The way its written along with the artwork gave me that impression that he was schizophrenic. Cute in a way, I finish this book feeling like the grandmother needs to take Luke in to be seen by medical professionals.

[Ramanda Flannery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a little boy that wants badly to play baseball with his brother and his friends. He finally gets a chance to play and strikes out then everyone makes fun of him. He goes to a baseball game that night with his grandmother and Jackie hits a homerun. When he gets home he goes up to the roof and finds a baseball and believes it's the homerun ball Jackie had hit. Jackie appears and tells him to never give up and that he does not hit the ball every time either. The next day he plays again and hits a homerun.
I would use this book in my classroom along with a lesson on never giving up!

[Ryan Treaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book encouraging students never to give up. Luke always watches and imagines being on the field like when he watches the Dodgers from his roof. He eventually realizes that being a hero also means never giving up no matter what the odds are against you.

Reading Level- Transitional
Curricular Uses- Read aloud or independent reading
Social Issues- Stresses to children never to give up no matter what the odds are. Part of being a hero involves never giving up. Great motivational book for children.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baseball books are always a hit! I thought this book was an entertaining read for several reasons. First, the images in this book are really nicely done. Second, children everywhere can relate to Luke's feelings of being left out and seen as a last resort. And third, the history of Jackie Robinson woven in was fantastic! This book would be a helpful tool in starting classroom conversations with children about the history of baseball, famous African American baseball players, and characteristics of city life.

[Falan Miller]

"Luke goes to bat" is about a young boy in Brooklyn who loves baseball. He is a huge Jackie Robinson fan and later on get good advice from the superstar. All Luke wants to do is play baseball with his older brother and friends. They finally let him play but he strikes out! Will he get an oppurtunity to play again?

This was a fun read. I think a lot of young boy will really enjoy this book. It is easy to relate too and every boy enjoys playing baseball with his friends.

This book could be used to teach never giving up. Luke was a hard worker and was able to over come striking out.