#tbt: We Are the Ship: The story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson

Image: LBYR

We are the Ship: The story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson. 96 p. Jump at the Sun/ Hyperion, January, 2008. 978078680328. (Own.)

#tbt features We are the Ship: The story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson. February marked the 100th anniversary of the formation of Negro League Baseball and there's no better way to learn about the many incredible athletes who played hard for pennies and endured racism on the road just for the love of the game. This masterful work was Nelson's author debut. He had illustrated around seventeen picture books prior to the publication of We are the Ship, which won the Sibert Medal as well as two medals from the Coretta Scott King committee - both the Author and Illustrator awards. 

This gorgeously designed, oversized volume has heft. Using a fictionalized narrator, Nelson tells the story of the league from the 1920s until 1947, when Jackie Robinson left it to join Major League Baseball. Click here for a short clip of Mr. Nelson talking about the book. Click here to view a short clip of him reading a chapter of the book. 

This past January, he finally received the Caldecott Medal. The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander won Alexander a Newbery Honor and Mr. Nelson the Medal as well as a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. He had previously won two Caldecott Honors. Sadly, the Youth Media Awards Banquet has been cancelled as were celebrations around the centennial of Negro League Baseball. Click here to view a CBS This Morning segment on him and view the painting this pandemic inspired.