Candlewick Press
March
2005
$14.95 AU
51p pb
ISBN: 978-0763624446
fp March 2002
Becoming Joe DiMaggio
Maria Testa
from the book...
It is the summer of 1936. The Yankees have a new center fielder whose name sounds like music and Papa-Angelo has a new grandson. The birth of Joseph Paul holds the promise of a better life and a brighter future for the family of an old man from Italy.
Young Joseph Paul grows up, his ear to the radio, listening for the magical sound of a Joe DiMaggio hit, and learning the rules of the game at his grandfather's knee. He learns how to run fast and how to make life's difficult plays. He also learns how to dream: maybe some day he'll grow up to be a hero like "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio. Maybe someday he'll even make his grandfather's "broken heart soar."
Maria Testa's tender verse novel tells a story about family love that is as hopeful and ageless as the American dream.
If you have read this verse novel and would like to share your opinion of it with other readers please send your review or comments to YARR-A
Set in 1936 in the United States, Becoming Joe DiMaggio is a short verse novel about a young boy of Italian heritage, Joseph Paul. His hero is Joe DiMaggio a famous baseball player who he idolises. He has a close relationship with his grandfather Papa-Angelo and together they share a love of baseball. Joseph’s father is in and out of jail and so it is Papa-Angelo who Joseph Paul most relates to. The story shows us how despite difficult times Joseph Paul grows up with dreams and love.
This is a tender story, most suited to the verse structure. Its use of words is sparse but also very revealing, for example when talking of the victory of the US over Japan in World War II:
…the sound of people
cheering, clapping,
stomping their feet,
the sound of victory.
What did the blast sound like?
V-J Day, people called it,
Victory Over Japan,
The war is over.
I couldn’t imagine
anyone cheering
in Hiroshima.
A worthwhile read.
Trent , Adelaide, Australia
Becoming Joe DiMaggio
tells the tale of an Italian-American boy named by his grandfather as
Joseph
Paul, escaping a difficult life by listening to his idol, Joe DiMaggio
playing
baseball for the New York Yankees on the radio. Understandably, his
life is
difficult because of three events happening at once: his father
is a
criminal, the book is set during the depression and the book was set
when
America joined World War II. Through listening to the legendary
baseball player,
Joseph Paul learns the importance of having a dream and using such a
famous
player as his role-model. Accompanied with charcoal and pastel
illustrations, it
sets a peaceful and tranquil mood which suits the book excellently.
After all,
it is a story based on growing up through tough times and the
importance of
striving for a goal.
Despite
the book being short, it has been written to provide a powerful, yet
meaningful
storyline. This is a short, meaningful and inspirational verse novel.
Jason, Year 10, Canberra, Australia
Becoming Joe DiMaggio
is the touching tale of young Joseph Paul as he grows up in 1940s New
York City.
His father is a criminal and his mother struggles to feed them, but his
grandfather has dreams. The story is one of hope, determination, and
wishing to
be someone like Joe DiMaggio, a hero of the times; but in the end
Joseph decides
to be himself.
This is a good book and
is well suited for its target
audience of upper primary school students, though I enjoyed it too. The
author
has managed to recreate the feeling of the time and how life was like
for people
of the time. She has also managed to capture how it felt to look up to
a hero
like Joe DiMaggio.
This novel in verse is about a boy who has
since birth
grown to love baseball and one man named Joe DiMaggio. Joseph
Paul was
born into an Italian family in America, and his father and he would sit
in front
of the radio for every game waiting for the name Joe DiMaggio.
This was a nice read and is also short. It
is a very
enjoyable book and I would recommend it to anyone around the age of 10.