S Is For Slugger, The Ultimate Baseball Alphabet hits a homer

2020 is certainly an interesting baseball season. Partially because the season isn’t here yet it which gives books like S Is For Slugger, The Ultimate Baseball Alphabet plenty of oxygen to soak up. It’s a fun book that’s meant to entertain those pre-k through early elementary ages who are playing the game, or are big fans of it, some red meat to devour. For the fans it really accomplishes this done mainly to the jarring artwork by Matthew Shipley.

James Littlejohn is the author of the book and his text artfully tracks through many of baseball’s great players. As stated before, I’m a baseball novice. However, as a consumer of pop culture I do recognize the names of many of the greats who have played the game. To that end, the book is peppered with pitchers that I’ve heard of like Sandy Koufax or nicknames like Mr. October for Reggie Jackson.

I had heard of Ozzie Smith, but I never knew that his nickname is “Wizard of Oz”, due to the fact that he can do a back flip. Likewise I never knew that Joe Jackson, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was given that moniker because he played a game in his stockings one time.  S Is For Slugger is a fun book to look at even if you don’t like baseball.

If you’re a fan of the game and reading to someone aged three through six then it’ll be a home run. While the art will draw in kids who aren’t fans, it’s the stories and name recollection that will bring in most of the readers. This is the third book that Shipley and Littlejohn have put out with B Is For Baller: The Ultimate Alphabet and G Is For Golazo: The Ultimate Soccer Alphabet before this one. And while those books are too simple for our children it’s certainly food for thought if they ever start to take an interest in following either sport.

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