# We Are the Ship

**Author:** Kadir Nelson
**Grade range:** Grades 4–8
**First published:** 2008
**Page count:** 100
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/we-are-the-ship
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

“We are the ship; all else the sea.”—Rube Foster, founder of the Negro National League The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is a perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball. Using an “Everyman” player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its

## Where this book is assigned

### Coretta Scott King Author Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)

### Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal

- **recommended** · 4th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Sibert Medal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Sibert_Informational_Book_Medal)

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/we-are-the-ship._