Let's Play Baseball! by Charles R. Smith, Jr.

Let's Play Baseball! by Charles R. Smith, Jr., illustrated by Terry Widener

Rating: 3.5 stars

Do you know the monkey-see-monkey-do effect?  If you do, I know you've got more than one kid.  And, like me, you might have more than one boy.  I know that girls see and then do just like boys, but...I'm shocked at and amused by the speed in which Kiefer repeats something Ben does--especially if that Something gets a hug or concerned look or, in most cases, something on the laugh-o-meter...  Anything from a hidden smile to outright belly laugh will get repeated twice.

And so, as Ben is into baseball, Kiefer is also into baseball!  Not shocking!

Let's Play Baseball! is a sturdy book--not as strong as a board book, but heftier than a hardback--that will withstand many reads, dozens of T-ball practices, and way too many trips to the dirty dugout.  It is a simple rhyme from a baseball's perspective inviting a boy to go outside and play ball:

THROW me...CATCH me, again and again.
PITCH me, HIT me...into the wind!
BLAST ME OFF your bat, into the sky...
SEE my red stitches SPIN as I fly.

Not much to it, in a really good way.  Perfect for the little brother aspiring to be his big brother--that's about as classic as the game of baseball itself.