“You gotta be kidding! You never heard of Sandy Koufax ?! He was only the greatest lefty who ever pitched in the game of baseball. Well, for six years he was, anyway.” If the mesmerizing lenticular cover doesn’t grab readers’ attention for this baseball biography, then the persuasive voice of the narrator will. Recounting Koufax’s unpredictable early years, his experiences as a Jewish player, and the evolution of his erratic pitch into a wildly successful one, the wise-talking storyteller energetically conveys the arc of Sandy Koufax’s brief baseball career. Highly stylized illustrations with a metallic sheen and attractive text boxes showing baseball statistics round out the winning features of this captivating story. (Ages 8–12)

In this striking picture book biography, an old-timer tells us what made Sandy Koufax such an amazing baseball player. We learn that the beginning of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers was rocky, that he was shy with his teammates, and experienced discrimination as one of the only Jews in the game. We hear that he actually quit, only to return the next season--different--firing one rocket after another over the plate. We watch him refuse to play in the 1965 World Series because it is a Jewish high holy day. And we see him in pain because of an overused left arm, eventually retiring at the peak of his career. Finally, we are told that people are still "scratchin' their heads over Sandy," who remains a modest hero and a mystery to this day.

Accompanied by sidebars filled with statistics, this Parents Magazine Best Book of the Year and Booklist Top of the List is sure to delight budding baseball fans.