BLACK DIAMOND KINGS: Poetry on the Pitch

 It's only mid-January. Football season hasn't fully wrapped up yet, basketball is in early stages, and winter Olympics are in the spotlight. Even so, I'm calling out my own eagerness for days when SPRING TRAINING has begun. I don't think I'm alone. 

Baseball season allows fans to "get to know" their favorite players, day after day, month after month. Games last long. Some see that as a problem, but I like the time it allows to let both games and personalities unfold. That was even more true when baseball began, teams were locally claimed by their communities, and low payrolls meant players were part of those communities. That's the era in which not everything was rosy. In fact, it "normalized" many evils, including segregation, the Negro League, and countless injustices. 

That era did allow Black communities and players to know each other intimately, but it prevented the wider community from realizing the talent, the brilliance that was being denied a well-deserved stage. 

CANDLEWICK PRESS, 2025

BLACK DIAMONDS KINGS, written by Charles R Smith Jr. and illustrated by Adrian Brandon. Both creators are kings in their own realms: Smith for poems celebrating Black excellence in sports and Brandon in painting and printmaking to reveal a sprawling landscape of Black life not typically portrayed. Just as Black History Month (February) is not meant to limit the attention we give to the stories and individuals who contributed to our shared history, Poetry Month (April) isn't meant to exclude this important genre from the other eleven months of the year. 

That's why I'm excited to share this remarkable picture book now, as the year begins. It deserves a place on our shelves all year, and in many contexts. Each poem portrays a notable Black baseball "king", capturing in varied poetry forms the elements of each remarkably talented life on brilliantly-illustrated pages that saturate and signify key features of each man honored here.

It's notable that Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige begins the book with the title "INTRODUCING". The irony here is not to be taken lightly. Even non-baseball fans, even younger folks, are more likely to be aware of this icon of the NEGRO LEAGUES than any other. Even so, their awareness is superficial. His power, grace, strength, and finesse are captured in both the fireworks-action-packed pitching pose and the snapping, cracking, rhymed and rhythmic poem that stretches down the page. 

That re-introduction and expanding perspective sets up page turns that each reveal names lesser known but deserving of the titles of "KING". Many have nicknames that suggest their distinctive talents, personalities, and patterns on the field (Pop, Buck, Cool Papa, and more). Each had qualities that would, in modern baseball, earn seven-figure salaries, advertising contracts, and so much more. Back matter offers brief author notes as if on the the flip side of baseball cards, indicating where/how/why the players' lives and noted features inspired various approaches to each poem, as well as their years playing and a few stats. Following that, a two-page spread addresses facts about the Negro League. 

As poetry, this picture book could well be shelved in nonfiction, incorporating researched details about powerful American heroes and history. The work as a whole serves as a pattern for those doing research on lesser-known figures, suggesting ways to share both prose and poetic content that will open eyes and minds to remarkable leaders. Anyone who enjoys superheroes or has an interest in art would enjoy (and perhaps attempt to emulate?) the dramatic and expressive illustrations for each baseball hero. In total, this offers the excitement of a season to come combined with the thrilling lives of seasons past. Don't miss out!

ELEPHANT and HISTORY FANS: MEET MISS FANCY

This is a short but sweet post about a short, sweet, historic story. Based on true events in Birmingham, Alabama in 1913, this charming fictional story of an elephant-obsessed boy  and his mother, his minister, and a local park incorporates the important truths about segregation, animal care, and dreaming big dreams. 

G. P. Putmnam's & Sons, 2019

MEET MISS FANCY is written by Irene Latham (co-author of CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR?) and illustrated by John Holyfield. The extensive author note in back clarifies that characters young Frank and his minister, Reverend Brooks, are fictional, but the time, place, segregated rules for park access, petition event, and denial of access are all historically correct. Even more impressively, the eponymous MISS FANCY was an actual circus elephant who was purchased through a school-based penny collection to become a resident of Avondale Park for twenty-one years. 
In this story Latham's colorful and figurative language (hosepipe trunk, flap-flap ears, and tree-stump feet) are perfectly paired with the images of lively character Frank and family/town members, representing life in a pre-WWI setting in the segregated south. The matter of fact sign on the park, NO COLORED ALLOWED, makes it clear that the previous scene of Frank's all-Black school is not accidental. His mother's fictional quotation no doubt mirrors often-repeated cautions by many voices to many young ears in those days: "Listen, Frank, I know it's not right, but it's the law, Change will take time."
This lively, delightful, and animal-friendly story should appeal to any and all, but is another fine example of ways that "Black History" belongs in everyday classrooms, homes, and story times.
Discussions may (and should) involve the reasons, racism, and injustice behind segregation policies, but will also gravitate to elephants and other fan-friendly animals (think hedgehogs, sloths, gorillas, and on and on.)

I saved this book review and commentary to share with you in late March, well-past the arbitrary boundaries of "BLACK HISTORY MONTH", that well-intentioned and double-edged effort that corrals our literary attention toward Blackness and History-ness into the shortest month of the year. This book, this character, and these discussions belong in our collections, on our shelves, under the spotlight every day of the year. 
I hope you agree, and I hope you check out this entertaining and empowering book. 
  Side note here, but a very significant part of the Author's Note to share: Miss Fancy resided in the park for twenty-one years, but then was sold to the Cole brothers-Clyde Beatty Circus. She toured with the circus for two years before being sold to the Buffalo Zoo in Buffalo, New York, where she lived on until 1954. Animal rights also becomes a worthy topic, considering lives of elephants and other wild animals in circus touring, in zoos, and in sanctuaries, such as THE ELEPHANT SANCTUARY in Tennessee. Webcam views of elephants in natural habitats can be accessed here.