Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young girl's Baseball Dream

by Crystal Hubbard and Randy DuBurck

©2005. New York. Lee & Low Books. 

AD960L

Picture Book. Diverse Protagonist. 

Catching the Moon is the story of a young girl who wants to be a baseball player. With little to no support from her family, she has to prove her skills in order to catch the attention of a coach who is going to coach a team right in her neighborhood. she faces discrimination because she is a girl, but in the end, she proves that she can do anything that she puts her mind to.

I LOVED this book. I would give this book a 31/32. The illustrations in this book are fantastic, the book features diversity of characters, there is character development among multiple characters that can be traced through the story the grammar and vocabulary is wonderful and is quite broad for a children's book. But the best thing about this book to me, was the diversity, the achievement of a diverse character, and the messages that this book sends to readers, and especially to young girls that you can overcome stereotypes and that you can overcome obstacles. The girl was so good at baseball, but her parents wished that she didn't love it so much, but that didn't stop her. There are messages such as friendship, perseverance, and acceptance, that are such important messages for kids to hear.

Here are some literary elements to consider:

Beginning, Middle, and End: In the beginning, the girl wanted to be a baseball player, even though she didn't have a lot of support. In the middle, she finds out about a baseball coach who will be starting a team in her neighborhood, but that she can't be in it because she is a girl. In the end, she proves that she is worthy enough to be on the team, and the coach helps her to get the supplies that she needs to play baseball on the team.

Title and Subtitle: Explore the title: Catching the Moon, and the subtitle, The Story of a Young Girl's Dream, and discuss why the author decided to use a title and subtitle.

Conflict and Solution: There are multiple conflicts and solutions through the book. 

For a mini lesson on conflict and solution, give children each a different conflict from the book and have them draw and write what the solution was.

Social Justice Theme: Woman's Rights