Just Like Josh Gibson

The story goes...Grandmama could hit the ball a mile,catch anything that was thrown,and do everything else --just like Josh Gibson.But unfortunately, no matter how well a girl growing up in the 1940s played the game of baseball, she would have faced tremendous challenges. These challenges are not unlike those met by the legendary Josh Gibson, arguably the best Negro-League player to never make it into the majors.In a poignant tribute to anyone who's had a dream deferred, two-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Angela Johnson and celebrated artist Beth Peck offer up this reminder -- that the small steps made by each of us inspire us all.

Angela Johnson received her first major literary prize in 1991 when her second picture book When I Am Old With You, was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Since that time she has gone on to win numerous accolades, including two Coretta Scott King Awards, one each for her novels Heaven and Toning the Sweep; and a second Coretta Scott King Honor for The Other Side: Shorter Poems. She lives in Kent, Ohio.