Murphy's Ticket
The Goofy Start and Glorious End of the Chicago Cubs Billy Goat Curse
For 108 years, fans of Chicago Cubs baseball suffered every playofff season, with mishap after mishap each being traced back to 1945 when a friendly goat was kicked out of a World Series game. But the 2016 season felt different. Would this finally be the year that the Billy Goat Curse was reversed? Author Brad Herzog tells the story of the curse's origin and follows the Cubs right through that fateful November night in 2016 when the Cubbies could finally fly the "W."
| Interest Level | Grade 1 - Grade 4 |
|---|---|
| Reading Level | Grade 2 |
| Dewey | 796.357/640977311 |
| Lexile | 700L |
| ATOS Reading Level | 3.9 |
| Guided Reading Level | O |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Sleeping Bear Press |
|---|---|
| Available Formats | Hardcover (9781585363872), PDF (9781534106628), Hosted ebook (9781534106635) |
| Copyright | 2017 |
| Number of Pages | 32 |
| Dimensions | 11 x 9 |
| Graphics | Full-color illustrations |
School Library Journal - Murphy's Ticket
Most baseball and sports fan will know about the history-making win of the Chicago Cubs at the 2016 World Series, but do they know that the “Lovable Losers” were once believed to be cursed? The story of Murphy the Goat and the billy goat’s curse is the stuff of legends in the Second City, but even those familiar with the details will be enthralled by the rollicking rhymes describing the fateful events that brought on the curse. Fans will become believers all over again as they read about season after dreadful season. Told in three alternating rhymed quatrains per page and peppered with North Side jargon, the narration is well executed. This title adds to Herzog’s repertoire of successful sports offerings (2004’s H Is for Home Run: A Baseball Alphabet). Whimsical full-page illustrations inject pain into the team’s woeful times and revelry into their fortunate ones, providing an old-fashioned feeling throughout the tale. VERDICT A grand slam of an ode to the Chicago Cubs. Consider wherever sports and underdog stories are popular.
Author: Brad Herzog
Chicago native Brad Herzog's first published story was the tale of his brief stint as a big league bat boy. He has watched the Cubs play from the box seats, the bleachers, the press box, even the Wrigleyville rooftops. Among his numerous books for Sleeping Bear Press are baseball books--H is for Home Run, Full Count, Little Baseball, I Spy With My Little Eye Baseball, and W is for Wrigley: The Friendly Confines Alphabet. A multiple winner from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Brad has written dozens of other books about subjects ranging from soccer and small-town America to civil rights and saving the planet. He now lives on California's Monterey Peninsula with his wife, but visits schools around the country as a guest author, inspiring students about the joys of reading and writing and the possibilities of imagination.
Illustrator: David Leonard
David Leonard has worked with clients such as Major League Baseball. His children’s books include Today on Election Day. He lives in West Orange, New Jersey.
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