Change-up: Baseball Poems

Change-up: Baseball Poems

Change-up: Baseball Poems

Written by: Gene Fehler

Illustrated by: Donald Wu

Clarion Books, 2009

48 pages

Poetry Book

Change-up is a book of poems all about baseball. Reading these poems can take you to a place where you can actually feel what is happening around you. Gene Fehler does an excellent job capturing the perfect moments of the game. Dusk is a poem included in the book that I can relate to. It is about a time when the teammates get together and go out to a vacant lot to play baseball and the little boy can hear his mom calling to him from down the street that it is time to come home. This reminds me of when I was little and I would go outside with my friends to play and my mom would always call me in when it started getting dark outside. I also like the poem The Umpire. In this poem the player hates the umpire for calling strikes on each one of his teammates, especially him. Come to find out at the end of the poem that the umpire is actually the player’s dad. Window Noises is a poem a lot of little boys and girls who play baseball can relate to. Basically what the poem says is that window noises are always bad because windows don’t make sounds unless they are breaking.

Donald Wu illustrated this book using acrylic and colored pencil. I love the colors Wu used to portray the different feelings I get from reading the poems. The illustrations for Snow Baseball are done in very light colors (blues and whites) and give a very light and fluffy feeling to the poem. The illustrations for Baseball Dream 1 are done in very bright colors and really bring out the excitement I get from reading the poem. The text placement is informal and is set in Boton font.

This book is appropriate for anyone to read, but probably appeals more to children who play or enjoy the game of baseball. This book of poems could be used when teaching students about emotions you get from reading or about descriptive words. I would have my students write a poem describing something they enjoy doing and then have them illustrate the poem and share it with the class.

Change-up has not won any awards, but Gene Fehler has written several other books and poems that have won awards. Beanball is his newest novel and has been a nominee for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award, Keystone State Reading Association Young Adult Book Award, Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award, and Land of Enchantment Book Award. It was also a SIBA Book Award Finalist and won the Best Book Award for Grade 7-12 Novels. This is definitely a book I would use in my classroom!