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Hammerin' Hank Greenberg: Baseball Pioneer
The first Jewish baseball hall-of-famer, Hank Greenberg battled anti-Semitism on and off the field. He was raised in New York City, the son of Romanian-Jewish immigrants, and went on to become a baseball legend. This thought-provoking biography follows him from his service during World War II, through his long career with the Detroit Tigers--where the moniker Hammerin' Han...more
Hardcover, 136 pages
Published
March 1st 2011
by Calkins Creek Books
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2012 Sydney Taylor Honor Book
A baseball fan, I'm not; but I always seek out biographies that will capture students' interests. So I was excited to read a new biography about Hank Greenberg, America's first Jewish baseball star. Shelley Sommer's Hammerin' Hank Greenberg was recently honored by the Association of Jewish Libraries for authentically portraying the Jewish experience. Tweens and young teen baseball fans will be interested in the way Sommer weaves together American history from the 193...more
A baseball fan, I'm not; but I always seek out biographies that will capture students' interests. So I was excited to read a new biography about Hank Greenberg, America's first Jewish baseball star. Shelley Sommer's Hammerin' Hank Greenberg was recently honored by the Association of Jewish Libraries for authentically portraying the Jewish experience. Tweens and young teen baseball fans will be interested in the way Sommer weaves together American history from the 193...more
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Baseball is easily my favorite sport, even though I can't always follow it. However, that wasn't even necessary for this book.
Sommer uses many quotes from Hammerin' Hank himself, a Jewish baseball player who is one of the greatest to ever play the game, to tell his life story. We follow the young boy from his childhood in New York City, to playing for the Detroit Tigers, to his service during WWII and then back to baseball.
I was really interested in how hard he worked. Greenberg spent a lot of...more
Sommer uses many quotes from Hammerin' Hank himself, a Jewish baseball player who is one of the greatest to ever play the game, to tell his life story. We follow the young boy from his childhood in New York City, to playing for the Detroit Tigers, to his service during WWII and then back to baseball.
I was really interested in how hard he worked. Greenberg spent a lot of...more
This biography is perfect for any middle school collection. Hank Greenberg is to be admired for many reasons and makes a great role model. I also enjoyed the way the author inserted historical information and photographs throughout the biography to give a sense of time and place.
It seemed sparse at times, with a sentence or two where I would have liked more of a story (when Hank plays against Jackie Robinson) or just misses breaking Babe Ruth's home run record, but perhaps there is not much rec...more
It seemed sparse at times, with a sentence or two where I would have liked more of a story (when Hank plays against Jackie Robinson) or just misses breaking Babe Ruth's home run record, but perhaps there is not much rec...more
I'm on a big baseball kick at the moment, so I was interested to check out this biography about one of the game's greats. Generally I prefer my non-fiction to be a bit more conversational in its tone, and it was moderately aggrivating that Sommer would not let us forget for one moment that, OMG, Hank Greenburg was Jewish. Still there was quite a bit of good information to be found here. I was especially impressed at the number of quotes that the author dug up and the thoroughness of her citation...more
In the 1930's and 1940's, sports went a long way towards breaking down barriers. We all know about Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, and Jesse Owens, but few people know the story of Hank Greenberg, the first great Jewish baseball player, who fought through descrimination to win two MVP awards and the respect of a nation for his character, his patriotism, and his homerun swing.
An excellent book for young readers who are interested in baseball, especially in players like Hank Greenberg, who broke down barriers in that sport.
Solid, straight-forward biography of a Hall of Fame baseball player and a great human being.
Informative, interesting biography of the "Jewish Babe Ruth."
Biography of the recordsetting Jewish baseball player.
O
What pain human beings inflict on each other! Learned a lot about more barriers in the field of sports and got to know a courageous man.
Jan 10, 2013
Center for Children's & Young Adult Literature
marked it as withdrawn
Feb 25, 2012
Larry Montello
marked it as to-read
Feb 04, 2012
Audrey
marked it as to-read
Jan 28, 2012
Colby Sharp
marked it as to-read
Sep 24, 2011
Naomi King
marked it as to-read
Sep 01, 2011
Panther Library
added it
Jun 16, 2011
The Jewish Book Council
added it
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Shelley Sommer is a middle-school literature teacher and the director of the library at the Inly School in Scituate, MA. She worked for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation as the director of public relations and then as the director of the Profile in Courage Award. Shelley received her master's degree from the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College in 2005.
More about Shelley Sommer...
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