In April, all of Major League Baseball honored Jackie Robinson and the Minnesota Twins dedicated April 15th at Target Field to commemorate his legacy. As part of the celebration, the Minnesota Twins and its unique Emerging Markets Department are encouraging young readers across Twins Territory to learn more about Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in the Major Leagues. This spring,  Miguel Ramos and the Emerging Markets Department of the Minnesota Twins is asking libraries and schools to consider featuring nonfiction and fiction books written about Jackie Robinson, the Negro Leagues, racism or diversity in baseball, and other related topics. Here is a starting lineup of titles, highlighted for their content, readability, and reader appeal. They also sponsored an essay writing contest about Jackie Robinson.

CLN was so pleased to see this literacy effort from the Minnesota Twins … especially when we learned that CLN member and author Tracy Nelson Maurer was asked to put together the suggested reading list for this program

Is this a program that would work in your part of the country, bringing together sports and reading? Contact information for the Emerging Markets Department is available in the downloadable booklist.