Great true story about the bigotry and ignorance surrounding letting black kids play baseball with the white kids. A very educational and informative story and can be good to read in black history month or frankly any other month. ( )

I liked this book for three reasons. The first reason that I liked this book is because it pushed the reader to see a different perspective. It showed the reader how even though Jackie Robinson was playing in the MLB and proved that Black athletes were good athletes, they still weren’t allowed to compete against White athletes. This book shows how the community, not only the 14 boys on the team, prepared for them to go to play in a Little League with White teams and how they prepare to head to the Little League Championship. I also like the illustrations in this book. The colors tones throughout the book change as the mood changes. When the book is sad and uncertain about what is happening, the colors are dark whereas when it is happy, the colors are light and cheery. Lastly, I like that this book is ended with an epilogue. I like that tells about how the story of the 14 boys on the team ends and how it comes full circle. I think that is shows that even though you may not get what you want at the time you want it; it can still happen later in life. The big idea of this story is to tell not let other people tell you can’t, keep trying and good things will come from it. ( )

'Let Them Play' is the true story about an all African American little league team formed in South Carolina during the Jim Crow era of 'Separate but equal' in 1955. The fourteen boys who signed up to play baseball quickly found out the white little league teams would not play against them and even formed a new baseball league. In fact, adult prejudice spread to eleven other segregated southern states who were encouraged to form similar all-white leagues. Since they were the only team left in their league, they won by default and the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania would not allow them to play because they never got to perform one game.
The boys made the 745-mile journey to the World Series and were allowed to practice during the warm-up period before the games began. The crowd of five thousand began to chant "LET THEM PLAY!" but of course they were not allowed. It seemed they made the long journey and weren't allowed to play, but hearing five thousand people chant and cheer for them to play it gave their parents the strength to keep fighting for their rights and the rights of their children.
My favorite line in the book is a quote by Ben Singleton, one of the player's fathers, who said: "the man you condemn today is the one you become tomorrow." This story could be used to teach tolerance, and even bullying, in the classroom.
The afterword includes the story of the same 14 boys going back to Pennsylvania in 2002 and taking the field to the cheers of thousands of baseball fans. The author relays a very touching incident that left me shedding a few tears. ( )

As our first picture book on this topic and actually about baseball I found myself having to give a lot of additional information so my daughter would understand better. She is a bit young for this particular book, an older child would likely understand the appeal of baseball to young boys and have some understanding of the way life might have been when you couldn't just drink from any ol water fountain. Still I'm glad we read it although until the moment of the water fountain page and an explanation about skin color I'm not sure she ever noticed or cared about skin color... I sure hope it stays that way! ( )

This book took place back in 1995 in South Carolina when segregation was still a big issue. Blacks where still not getting treated as fair as the whites, even in sports. They formed an All-star team of all blacks that was supposed to play in the state annual Little League Baseball Tournament but they were rejected because of their skin color. They still made the trip to the tournament but they were only allowed to warm up on the field but not play. As the fans saw them warm up they started chanting, Let them play but even that was not enough and they still weren't allowed to play. After the tournament they went back home and talked about their amazing experience. ( )