



Warrior on the Mound
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Narrated by twelve-year-old Cato, this intense and evocative story of racial unrest in prewar North Carolina ends with a dramatic match between white and Black little league teams.
1935. Twelve-year-old Cato wants nothing more than to play baseball, perfect his pitch, and meet Mr. Satchel Paige––the best pitcher in Negro League baseball. But when he and his teammates “trespass” on their town’s whites-only baseball field for a practice, the resulting racial outrage burns like a brushfire through the entire community, threatening Cato, his family, and every one of his friends.
There’s only one way this can end without violence: It has to be settled on the mound, between the white team and the Black. Winner takes all.
Written in first person with a rich, convincing voice, Warrior on the Mound is about the experience of segregation; about the tinderbox environment of the prewar South; about having a dream; about injustice, and, finally, about dialogue.
Back matter includes an author's note, historical background, biographical information about Negro League players, and more.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
One of Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year!
"A HOME RUN."—School Library Journal, starred review
"NOT TO BE MISSED."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Headen uses baseball to explore themes of racism in this powerful debut set in North Carolina during the Jim Crow era. In 1935, 12-year-old Cato Jones, who is Black, aspires to pitch for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro American League like his late father and older brother. Cato and his team, the Pender County Rangers, often skip school to practice on the new field built by white businessman Luke Blackburn for his own son's team. Cato dreams of playing an actual game on that field, with its real bases, bleachers, and pitching mound: "I would love to see the Rangers whip the tar out of that white boy and his team right on their own fancy ball field. Just one fair game, and we could do it." Scheduling a game against Blackburn's son proves easy; keeping it fair, however, is not. And after the ball game triggers a resurgence of racial violence, Cato's tight-knit Black community must rally around one another to keep each other safe. The protagonist's first-person POV adds immediacy to this emotionally charged sports novel, making for a winning combination of action-driven plotting and underlying historical tension that will inspire discussion surrounding Jim Crow era and contemporary prejudice. Ample back matter concludes. Ages 8–12.