What Is the World Series?

What was...?

by Gail Herman, Who H.Q., David Grayson Kenyon (Illustrator)

"Strike – you’re out!" "He’s safe!" "Homerun!" Every October, millions of baseball fans around the country anxiously wait to see which team wins baseball's biggest championship.  But the original games of the 1900s hardly look like they do today. Take a look back over one hundred years and discover the history of baseball's greatest series. With triumphs, heartbreak, and superstitious curses, this action-packed book brings America’s Pastime to life.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, History, Baseball, Childrens, Chapter Books, American History

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2015

About the author

Gail Herman, formerly a children's book editor in New York City, has written picture books, easy-to-reads, and chapter books, including many titles in the Who Was/What Was series. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her family.

Reviews

[Edward · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is the World Series is a great book. The author doesn't show much opinon in the book it states very good facts about the world series and what takes place during the world series.Some facts that I learned from the book was that the first world series tickets were around 25 cents. Also I learned that a team didn't participate in one world series because they didn't they were going on strike against it. This book is a great one and i would recommend it to anyone.

[Kaleb Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is the World Series by Gail Herman was one of the best books. I did not know that the World Series was created in 1809 by two coaches. Originally it was the best of 9 games but then it went down to the best of 7 games. Throughout time their has ben many legends.

The World Series happened every year and the best teams would go and see who is the best. Whoever won got a ring and got the bragging rights. Then the next season would start and the same thing again. You could win all of them but that will never happen.

I recommend this book for baseball fans of the yanks. Maybe you like autobiographies like me and want to read more.

[ACS Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

What better book to read in late October than a book about the World Series? While I’ve bought several books in the “Who is/What is” series, this is the first one I’ve read.

This was an enjoyable read. Even though this book was written for kids, I still learned quite a few things! Each chapter tells about a decade of baseball. Within the chapter are mini-biographies of players such as Shoeless Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, etc. Each chapter concludes with a list of all of the winners of the World Series in that decade. A great read for baseball fans!

(I’m giving it four stars instead of five because of the poor grammar. There are sentence fragments everywhere!)

[LeAnn Sigafoose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I greatly enjoy the what is/ who was/ where is book series but this one was a little bit of a disappointment in that it could not go into depth about a lot of things. There is so much to baseball and the world series and all the teams that play in it that this book just kind of jumped to one thing to another thing.
I would recommend this book though! Contradicting myself I know but this is why: The book gives a lot of information! Right away I know if I come along a kid that is so into baseball I will suggest they read this book so they can have a great foundation of information on the game and the series.
I love Babe Ruth, I love baseball, this book delivers what I like.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book with my daughter and while it might have been a better book for someone totally familiar with baseball, it wasn't as great a book if you didn't already know about baseball. It used lots of unfamiliar terms without defining them and the look at each decade of baseball wasn't the best format. I think there could have been a better way to organize the book and really help anyone see what the world series is all about - chapters on fans, what it's like to go to a ball game, the roll of money in the world series (tickets, players, coaches), and all sorts of things that weren't touched on.

[Joey Oborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was a really good book, I had to use this book for my information groups and, I did baseball as my topic and I found a lot of cool facts on the topic like there was not world series in 1994, due to an ongoing strike by the Major League Baseball Players Association. One of my favorite world series was in 2009 in wich my sister was born that year and the yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies.

[Victoria B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of history about the series beginning with the inception & chapters are broken down by decades (with the exception of the final chapter, where everything from 2000 on is lumped into a single chapter). The primary reason I didn't rate 5 stars is that this book is going to need to be updated regularly to keep up with current info & winners or else risk being quickly outdated.

[Kate Schwarz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book in this series--mostly because it was too broad a subject to go into much depth...it was barely more than a summary of the dramatic wins and the biggest players, which isn't new information for anyone who has read anything about baseball.

[Kellan Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was one of the best baseball books i have ever read because it went on and on how the said about every world series until 2015.And how it tolled me every world series game went on.One rule a long time ago was how black Americans can't play baseball in the major leagues.

[Meldau-Cummings Fam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone who plays baseball plays hard to try to have a chance to play in the World Series. It starts with a lot of teams playing but goes down to two. If you win the World Series then you get a big trophy and you get to celebrate your team which is really fun. - G, 6yo

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfect fall addition for sports lovers in 2nd through 4th grade (older too - I learn a lot from the books in this collection).

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guess it helps if you're a sports fan. I'm not.

[Martin Ewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book it said so cool things about baseball I love baseball so I like it a lot.

[Marisel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could be better.

[Chris Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were a couple of mistakes. And the stuff about the red Sox could’ve been cut, but we enjoyed it a lot.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting children to read anything is great and these books are great from an informative and enjoyable point of view. Lots of info packed in a manageable size book. Lots of facts and tidbits.

[Patrick O'Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was amazing, I have always been a huge baseball fan, even a Cub fan. This book really taught me a bunch of most world series'.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting condensed history.

[Suzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book went into SO much detail. I appreciate the dedication and thoroughness of the author, but it is a very broad topic and a cumbersome book to read.

[Joe Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good info on WS

[Miles Smelcer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book if you enjoy baseball.

[Hayden Calleo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Is The World Series? by Gail Herman is one of the best books I have ever read. I loved it because it talked about every world series in MLB history. I learned a lot of new things after reading this book.

It was about all of the world series in MLB history. They went more in depth about the important ones to making it even more interesting. It talked about everything from the Curse of the great bambino to the black socks scandal.

I would recommend this book to people who really like baseball. If you like history this is good for you too. I would recommend this book to any age.

[Chelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The book almost rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like it mainly focused on the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees. I’m a KC Royals fan and the only times that my team was mentioned was on the lists stating the years that they attended the World Series.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it

[Clara Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for kids who love baseball! Illustrations really add to the quality of this book. Vocab isn't too difficult, and would definitely recommend this book for your classroom library.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for a baseball fan. This book describes winning plays from past series.

[Keith S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book because it has some interesting facts. I am done with this book.there are no characters.

[Shana OkieCozyReader]

Great series of Who Was / What Was / Where Is
Over 200 books on non-fiction subjects. Kids love these easy reads that are interesting and fun to read