A dazzling feat on the diamond

Mighty Jackie: The Strike-Out Queen

Marissa Moss, illustrated by C.F. Payne

S&S;/Wiseman, 32 pp., $16.95

Delivered with the force of a hard fastball, the true story of athlete Jackie Mitchell makes a strong addition to Marissa Moss’ (“Amelia’s Notebook”) library of brave girl tales. C.F. Payne (“Casey at the Bat”) sets the stage with photo-real, fish-eye-distorted spreads of Jackie as a child, hurling baseballs long after nightfall and getting tips from Dodger pitcher Dazzy Vance.

Moss relays the details of then-17-year-old Jackie’s April 2, 1931, game against the two best hitters of the day -- Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig -- with the blow-by-blow breathlessness of a sportscaster and the confidence of a seasoned storyteller: “Jackie held that ball like it was part of her arm, and when she threw it, she knew exactly where it would go.”

Payne’s pictures mirror the text’s immediacy. Close-ups show Ruth’s face as he awaits Jackie’s first pitch, then later his expression of dismay and outrage as the umpire calls, “Strrrrike three!” Jackie disposes of Gehrig even more expeditiously, and the story ends as she basks in the cheers of fans who had jeered her only moments before.

The wind seeps out of this jubilant moment when readers old enough to understand the end note discover that Jackie was immediately removed from her team and banned from baseball. (The commissioner claimed his decision was for her own protection, as baseball was “too strenuous” for women, according to an author’s note.) Yet the drama of her two memorable strikeouts has a mythic dimension, and girls with sporting aspirations will be thrilled by Jackie’s legacy. Ages 5-8

*

Albert: The Dog Who Liked to Ride in Taxis

Cynthia Zarin, illustrated by Pierre Pratt

Atheneum/Jackson: 32 pp., $16.95

Like most literary heroes who set off on their own to see the wide world, the debonair dachshund who stars in this droll, episodic picture book pines for adventure. Albert loves to ride in taxis, and when he sneaks into a cab without being seen for his first solo ride, he thinks, “Here was luxury. Here was freedom.”

He meets an elderly lady in another taxi, who offers to take him with her to the Kalahari Desert, and he later befriends two boys bound for California. Albert feels “exhilarated. He had ridden in three taxis in one day. He was a dog of the world.” Fans of “The Adventures of Taxi Dog,” also set in New York City, will discover here a longer text and more fully fleshed out characterization.

The stylized artwork brims with elongated vehicles, buildings and trees that seem tailored to a dachshund. Pratt’s (“Where’s Pup?”) Albert and friends, with their squared-off noses or muzzles, seem posed, as if they were part of a series of acrylic cartoon tableaux registering exaggerated emotions. Zarin’s story blends realism and fiction with quirky verve, and the memorable Albert is Fred Astaire-suave.

By the end, Albert, the inveterate optimist, has been to the airport and now sets his sights on bigger things: “Taxis are all very well,” he thinks to himself, “but can they take you to California? To the Kalahari? To Timbuktu?” The leisurely, sophisticated delivery will stretch the vocabulary of the picture-book crowd; grown-up dachshund devotees will certainly lap this up as well. Ages 3-6

*

Heartbeat

Sharon Creech

HarperCollins/Cotler: 192 pp., $15.99

Sharon Creech returns to the free-verse form she employed so successfully in “Love That Dog” for this insightful exploration of life’s beginning and ending and the joys to be encountered on the journey. Twelve-year-old narrator Annie loves to run but has no interest in competing. She likes hearing the “thump-thump, thump-thump” of her bare feet hitting the damp grass and running alongside her friend Max when he joins her, stride for stride.

The running becomes a metaphor: Annie’s grandfather, who once loved to run, is now growing forgetful; Max joins the track team, and his wish to win drives a wedge between them; and Annie’s father and pregnant mother take her with them to hear the baby’s heartbeat (“a-whoosh-a-whoosh-a-whoosh / very fast / as if the alien baby / must be running hard”). Annie describes her own heartbeat as “thump-THUMP, thump-THUMP,” curiously close to the rhythm of her running.

Through Annie’s observations, Creech eloquently captures the contrast between the baby’s embarkation on life and Grandpa’s slow withdrawal from it: “It is as if / he is evaporating / or shrinking / disappearing -- / little pieces vanishing each day / while the alien baby / grows bigger and bigger.” Annie’s growing interest in and talent for drawing becomes a theme that develops so subtly that readers may be surprised by the ways in which the threads of the novel come together for a fully satisfying conclusion. Ages 8-12

*

Agent A to Agent Z

Andy Rash

Scholastic/Levine: 40 pp., $16.95

With Austin Powers, Maxwell Smart and Mad magazine’s Spy vs. Spy as his muses, Andy Rash (“The Robots Are Coming”) sends Agent A on a mission through the alphabet to find a mole. “Every spy who is official / uses words with his initial,” the spymaster (who bears a striking resemblance to Edward G. Robinson) tells the hero.

“But one spy is out of line. / I need to know his name by nine.” Accordingly, Agent A tails Agent E, who “did not Expect / what happened when he pressed Eject,” and eventually enters the Bond-like lair (the 1960s styling includes a round bed) of comely Agent S, who “Subdues a Spy / by letting her Stiletto fly.”

It’s a cool concept, especially for children who believe they’ve outgrown ABC books but find espionage enthralling. Rash’s deadpan digital cartoons slyly spoof the undercover world as a place where the sun seldom shines and agents always dress in black and sport the same steely demeanor.

At the same time, Rash celebrates the aura of menace, the top-secret intrigue, the neat-o equipment (a jet pack, a tranquilizing dart). There’s good fun here for any aspiring spy who’s looking for a reason to come in from the cold. Ages 4-8

*

Major Taylor: Champion Cyclist

Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James E. Ransome

Atheneum/Schwartz: 40 pp., $16.95

The creators of “Satchel Paige” turn their attention to African American cyclist Marshall Taylor, who in 1899 clinched the World Championship title. Lesa Cline-Ransome includes details about Taylor’s boyhood that will easily snare kids’ attention. As a youngster in Indianapolis, he “taught himself quite a collection of tricks” as he delivered newspapers on his bike. His prowess landed him a job in Hay and Willits Bicycle Shop.

A full-bleed page divided into four panels shows the boy performing stunts on his bicycle in a military uniform, earning him the nickname of “Major.” After winning his first race (a 10-mile road race sponsored by Hay and Willits) at 13, the lad left home to become assistant to professional racer Louis “Birdie” Munger and turned pro himself five years later.

Concisely and affectingly, Cline-Ransome describes the racial prejudice that plagued the athlete on and off the race course: “All of the large purses won in races all over the country couldn’t buy him a meal in a restaurant or a room in a hotel.” Though the narrative concludes on a note of triumph, trumpeting his cycling victory in France over the 1900 world champion, a concluding note outlines Taylor’s sad, destitute later years.

Period particulars and deft use of light and shadow distinguish Ransome’s lifelike oil paintings. Portraits of Taylor are in sharp, striking focus and effectively convey his athleticism, congeniality and resolve. An appealing, accessible biography. Ages 6-10

*

Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance

Laban Carrick Hill

Little, Brown/Tingley: 160 pp., $18.95

This energetic, elegantly designed volume documents the artistic, literary and musical surge of black culture in Harlem from 1900 to 1924, presenting the events and personalities that led to both its ascension and decline. Laban Carrick Hill first introduces the pivotal opposing points of view of the time, that of Booker T. Washington -- born into slavery, who “strongly supported the principle of nonconfrontation” -- and W.E.B. Du Bois, born free, whose ideas were considered “radical” and who believed that “the Negro race must be made leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among their people.”

The author then weaves in other voices, solo and in groups, and brief bios of lesser-known heroes (such as Sgt. Henry Johnson, an African American and the first American soldier -- black or white -- in World War I to receive the Croix de Guerre [War Cross]; and pioneering editor and educator Charles Spurgeon Johnson). Hill sets the backdrop for the Great Migration of blacks from South to North (illustrated with the first of Jacob Lawrence’s “Migrations Series” paintings) and explores the effects of a glut of Harlem housing, which led to the settlement of African Americans there.

Sidebars highlight such important issues as the “Negro Scare” racket, a real estate strategy that exploited whites’ fears of black encroachment into white residential areas. A generous helping of primary source material brings the era to life in the voices of the dynamic personalities that made it flourish, including the poems of Langston Hughes, sheet music for “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” advertisements and excerpts from news stories.

The inviting design makes use of blocks of jazzy colors, mod type and a smattering of period illustrations (by the likes of Aaron Douglas and others). Hill also shines light on everyday rituals, such as the practice of strolling down the Harlem boulevards, the importance of churches and the flourishing of jazz clubs (such as the famous Cotton Club). The book closes with the stock market crash’s devastating effects on the Harlem Renaissance: The resulting Great Depression caused five times more unemployment in Harlem than in other parts of New York City and led to an exodus of many of its leaders. This compelling history will leave readers familiar or unfamiliar with this high-flying period eager to discover more. Ages 12-older