The Bambino and Me - Hardcover

ZACHARY HYMAN is one of North America's top young hockey prospects and was drafted by the Florida Panthers in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. In 2011, Hockey Canada named Zachary Hyman the Canadian Junior A Player of the Year and his sweater hung in the Hockey Hall of Fame. His love of baseball and his passion for history inspired Zachary to pen The Bambino and Me. Hyman studies and plays hockey at the University of Michigan, where in 2012 he received the Freshman Academic Achievement Award.

Zachary Pullen's character-oriented illustrations have been seen in numerous publications including The New York Times Book Review, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, and The Wall Street Journal to name a few. He has been honored several times through the prestigious Society of Illustrators juried shows and Communication Arts Illustration Annual of the best in current illustration. Pullen lives with his wife and son in Wyoming. To see more of his work, please visit www.zacharypullen.com.

What’s a Yankees fan doing in a Red Sox jersey? For his tenth birthday, George received both a dream and a nightmare. The dream: a pair of tickets to a Yankees game. The nightmare, for a true-blue fan: a Red Sox jersey and cap from a Boston uncle. Looking back at his childhood in the Bronx in 1927, the elderly storyteller recalls that summer. When he resisted the shirt, he got his mouth washed out with soap for “talking back.” In spite of his having to wear the hateful colors, his first-ever trip to a baseball game and a conversation with his hero, Babe Ruth, made for a day he never forgot. The narrator’s discomfort and embarrassment are realistic, as is Ruth’s advice. In Pullen’s stylized oil paintings, facial features are exaggerated and expressive. These elements add plenty of humor to this nostalgic and heartwarming story for fans of any age. Extra innings: the book jacket becomes a poster, and the book comes with a CD of the story, ably narrated by actor Jason Alexander. Grades 2-4. --Kathleen Isaacs