Skip to main content

Miracle Mud

By


Miracle Mud:
Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud that Changed Baseball
by David A. Kelly
illustrated by Oliver Dominguez

Lerner Pub Group. April 2013. 
unpaged. picture book biography

Lena Blackburne wanted to be a famous ballplayer. He tried playing every position for many different teams, but he just wasn't good enough. Although Lena Blackburne was not a star baseball player, he loved everything about the game. After he retired he stayed close to the game and found somewhere he could help out. Before a game, the baseballs would be prepped so they weren't as slick and shiny. However, the methods being used caused the balls to be soft, soggy, sticky or stinky. Nobody liked this and it was difficult to throw the ball and to hit it. Lena set his mind to coming up with a solution and eventually stumbled upon it by accident. He found a muddy area near his home in New Jersey with the perfect slop to take care of the balls. 75 years later, the same muddy place is being harvested to keep major league baseballs in tip-top shape. Lena Blackburne may not have been Hall of Fame material, but his mud sure is!
Miracle Mud is beautifully illustrated and the text is written in a fun but informative manner. Long-time baseball fans and random readers alike will enjoy this story of a lesser known aspect of baseball life.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Alice with a Why

By
Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Blood in the Water

By
Blood in the Water By Tiffany D. Jackson New York: Scholastic, 2025. Fiction. 255 pages. 12-year-old Kaylani McKinnon can't help but feel like a fish out of water. She's a Brooklyn girl spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard surrounded by wealthy family friends in their mansion. All she really wants is to stay home all summer where she her incarcerated father can easily reach her, and she can keep working to find ways to prove him innocent of fraud and embezzlement. Despite her protests, she finds herself on the island with the snooty granddaughters of her host. Soon after Kaylani's arrival, a popular teen boy is found murdered and she decides to conduct her own investigation. As she tries to discover what happened to Chadwick Cooper, Kaylani finds that not everything on Martha's Vineyard is as perfect as it appears. Thrillers for middle grade readers can be hard to find, but Tiffany D. Jackson succeeds in her first middle grade novel. A quick moving plot, tight d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five Faves: Funny Animal Picture Books

By
Here is the thing, I have a kid that loves animals. And I have another kid who really likes funny books. So when it comes to reading books if I can get a book that is funny and has animals in it, there is a chance that I can get both of my kids to listen to that book. Which is a win-win for reading time at my house. Here are some great new picture books that feature animals that may also make readers chuckle. Enjoy!  Cranky, Crabby Crow (Saves the World)  By Corey R. Tabor  New York: Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2025. Picture Book.  In this book a very cranky (and crabby) crow keeps “kaw”ing at all the other animals to get them to go away. The other animals respond in various states of annoyance/offense to Crow’s response. Eventually readers see the reasoning behind Crow’s actions—which is where the chuckles will come in.  Help Me Find My Hamster!  Written by Brooke Hartman  Illustrated by Anna Süssbauer  Salem, MA: Pa...
Post a Comment
Read more