PRAISE FOR CONTENDERS
By Traci Sorell and Arigon Starr

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2023
A New York Public Library Best Books of 2023
American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) Best of 2023 List
2024 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List (Unanimous Recommendations)
ILA 2024 Notable Books for a Global Society
2024 American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor
NCSS-CBC 2024 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
2024 Bank Street Best Children’s Books



*“A lesser-known but significant encounter with all-too-current resonances.” —Kirkus, starred review

“. . . an excellent addition to the sports shelves as well as diversity units.” —Booklist

“This has broad appeal for history buffs, sports fans, and social-justice minded kids.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books


PRAISE FOR AT THE MOUNTAIN’S BASE
By Traci Sorell and Weshoyot Alvitre

*“A first purchase for any library.” —School Library Journal, starred review

*“Captures the emotions of families separated by war while introducing the reader to a part of history that is often erased.” —Horn Book, starred review

*“The meditative text is lovely, and the artwork brings the small Cherokee abode to life with warmth and love.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ 2023-02-08
Profiles of the first two Native players to make history by facing off in a World Series: Charles Bender and John Meyers.

Properly rejecting the conventional sobriquets (both were often referred to as “Chief” in newspapers despite not being tribal leaders) as inaccurate and disrespectful and using her subjects’ given names (or childhood nicknames) throughout, Sorell weaves into her brief but suspenseful recap of the 1911 Series accounts of both men’s paths to the major leagues. Bender left the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota to pitch for the Philadelphia Athletics after escaping abusive experiences both at home, from his German American father, and in a boarding school; Meyers resisted “pressure to adopt white people’s norms” as he left the Cahuilla reservation in California for spots on several semipro teams and then spoke out against injustices against Native people as a catcher for the New York Giants. Adding carefully authenticated Ojibwe and Cahuilla motifs on framing borders, Starr offers a set of clean-lined on-field tableaux, montages, and baseball card–style portraits of the chiseled players in period uniforms. Though the author does give her stars’ later careers (and, in a closing timeline, lives) quick overviews, the story she tells is at least as much about racism as it is about baseball, with several references to “slights and slurs” along with documented prejudicial quotes and headlines from the time identified as “insults.” Nor has the onslaught let up significantly: “From peewee to professional levels,” she concludes, “no other athletes in the United States face the kind of sanctioned mocking and dishonor of their culture that Native players do.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lesser-known but significant encounter with all-too-current resonances. (author’s note, quotes, sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)