Before Jackie by Larry Harper

Before Jackie by Larry Harper

In this heartwarming novel, meticulously researched and based on true stories, a group of nine kids in post-World War I California are brought together by baseball. Free of adult prejudices and united by their love of the game, the kids overcome all obstacles--poverty, racism, physical disability--to become a vision of America's joyous, diverse future.This is an uplifting story with a twist, where the friends, who call themselves The Nine, find themselves on a quest to dig up a communal grave in order to right a wrong. Through their adventures, friends are loyal above all else--to each other. to the team of Negro League players who befriends them, to their teacher, Ms. O'Doul, and to the great American pastime of baseball that makes all things possible.