It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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and #IMWAYR day
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Black Diamond Kings: Heroes of Negro League Baseball
May 6, 2025 by Candlewick
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Very few authors pair sports with poetry, but Smith has several titles that do this very things. His other Sports Royalty books, including Hoop Queens, Hoop Kings, and Soccer Queens follow a similar winning format. Luminaries of the game are given beautiful two page spread illustrations and a poem that encapsulates what makes the player special. These would be fantastic for read aloud, since Smith's free verse poems are full of motions, images, and sounds that lend themselves to being heard.
There are several players from the Negro Leagues of whom readers may have heard, like Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell, but many others that are all too close to being forgotten. The poems don't give a lot of information about the players' lives, so it's good to see short biographical paragraphs at the end of the book. These are complete with the years when they were active, positions, and whether they were right or left handed. Oddly, the years of birth and death are not included, nor are teams for which they played always mentioned.
There is some additional information on the Negro Leagues, including why they were called that, and the disparities in treatment. As of 2024, Negro League players have been added to Major League Baseball statistics, so that was good to see.
It is very hard to find books on sports for any age level, but especially for younger readers. This is a good addition to books like David A. Kelly's Ballpark Mysteries, Barnes' Who Got Game: Baseball, or picture books like Sorrell's Contenders.
Welcome to Kittyville (The Agatha Case Files)
September 9, 2025 by Twirl
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Young Agatha has come to Kittyville with the dream of becoming a detective. She is thrown right into her first case when she happens upon Dr. Poodle, who has had her suitcase with the plans for her latest invention inside it. Agatha starts her investigation, and the format of each case is innovative and fun. When we turn the page, there is a two page spread of the train station with lots of characters and details. Opening the left hand side, there are instructions for things to look for that give some clues as to who the culprit may be. On the right hand page, there are four possible suspects who give statements, as well as an eyewitness. Next, we have some help to "Crack the Case Open". Three clues focus on who the culprit might be, but for those readers who still need help, there is a page number where the answer is located.
There are eight cases altogether, including finding out why Dr. Poodle's robots on the loose, investigating a missing painting, a mess at a museum, and a break in at the bank. Agatha also hones her skills at a carnival caper, circus antics, and even at the awards ceremony that the mayor holds for Agatha to thank her for solving so many of the town's mysteries. Someone thinks she is not that great a detective and steals one of her presents, but of course Agatha is able to identify the culprit. Now that Agatha has several cases under her belt, I'm sure we will see more of her adventures.
The illustrations remind me a bit of Richard Scarry's Busy town, with cityscapes full of details and different animal characters. While many of the primary colors are used (a very Scarry trait), there is also a smattering of more trendy color, like the turquoise on the cover and a particularly interesting dark teal for grass and foliage, which gives the book a very modern feel. Agatha, with her bright red hair and blue overalls, is easy to find. The cutaways of the buildings are fascinating, and we get to see the underground and sewers as well as apartments and stores. My favorite scene is probably Agatha's party at the museum, even if the turkey , duck, cow, and poodle are all the same size!
Readers who are not quite ready for Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown mysteries will find Agatha's cases a good warm up for those stories. I appreciated the instructions for what to look for, and was able to solve most of the cases, although I don't have a lot of patience for figuring out mysteries. While some of the clues were obvious (a bird's feather at the scene means the culprit is probably a bird), some of the other clues took a bit more thought (looking at the types of shoes characters were wearing or determining what tools were used in a break in). This would be a great way to encourage critical thinking in a young child.
This would make a great gift for a budding young detective along with a magnifying glass and fingerprint kit, as well as some more traditional early reader mysteries like Roy's A to Z Mysteries, Kelly's Ballpark Mysteries, Butler's Kayla and King books, or Random House's Time to Read The Boxcar Children series.
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