Becoming Joe Dimaggio. This item is unavailable.Becoming Joe Dimaggio

Spare, simple poems tell a boy’s moving story in this short novel about baseball, family, and the American dream.

It’s 1936, and the Yankees have just hired a star center fielder whose name sounds like music. What could be a better time for Papa-Angelo’s grandson to be born? Christened after the legendary ballplayer, young Joseph Paul learns much at his Italian grandfather’s knee - about holding your breath in front of the radio during a 3-2 count with the bases loaded and having the audacity to dream big dreams. After all, the boy’s ne’er-do-well father is out of the picture, and it is Papa-Angelo’s job to teach his grandson what it means to be a hero.

In a poignant novel told in verse, Maria Testa paints a picture of a timeless bond between a grandson and his immigrant grandfather - and of finding his own place in a brave new world.

Maria Testa received a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Work-in-Progress Grant for BECOMING JOE DIMAGGIO, a poetic novel inspired by family stories. She has written three picture books for children and a collection of short stories for young adults. She is also the author of another novel about baseball, SOME KIND OF PRIDE, which was awarded the Marguerite De Angeli Prize for a first middle-grade novel. Maria Testa grew up in Rhode Island and now lives on the coast of Maine with her family.