Remembering Kobe Bryant

A five-time NBA champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, Kobe Bryant`s talent was a source of awe for all who watched him. After retiring, Kobe moved onto other endeavors, ones which earned him an Academy Award and a spot on the New York Times Bestsellers list.

Dear Basketball 
In 2018,  Kobe Bryant and director Glen Keane won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, making him the only professional athlete to win an Oscar. The film was based on Bryant`s poem of the same name which was published on The Players Tribune in 2015 when he announced his retirement. In the poem he recounts when he fell in love with basketball and all that it gave to him. In 2015 Bryant met with Glen Keane, a Disney animator who worked on many classic films including Beauty & The Best, Aladdin, & Pocahontas. Keane says they bonded over their love of Beethoven, which solidified their creative relationship.

Read the poem here

Watch a one minute preview of the film here

Click here to watch Kobe`s Oscar acceptance speech

The Wizenard Series: Training Camp

Published in May 2019, the Wizenard Series was created by Bryant and written by Wesley King. Mixing basketball and magic, the young adult story focuses on the West Bottom Badgers, a down on their luck team that gets inspiration from their new coach, Professor Wizenard. This series is part of Bryant`s Granity Studios, a multimedia organization that provides content for youth. In an interview published in Parade magazine two days before his death, Bryant said "I created Granity Studios as a way of teaching valuable life lessons to the next generation, with whatever they hope to do. The goal is to encourage children to develop their own inner magic and believe they can achieve the impossible and do so in a fun way.” The next installment in the series, Season One, will be published in March. Bryant`s other recent publications include Legacy & The Queen written by Annie Matthew and The Tree of Ecrof written by Ivy Claire.

Read the full Parade article here

The Punies

The Punies is a podcast that tells the story of a young boy named Puny Pete who plays sports with his neighborhood friends, an eclectic group of kids known as the Punies. Being a father of four, Bryant knew that kids tend to tune their parents out after a while. The idea for the podcast was to give kids advice on leadership and teamwork in a way that was more receptive to them. Written by Jon Haller, this podcast is available on the Granity Studios website.

Bryant was also working on a children`s book with author Paulo Coehlo, writer of The Alchemist, which is said to be one of Kobe`s favorite books. The story he was writing with Coehlo was meant to inspire underprivileged children to overcome adversity through sports. After Bryant`s passing, Coehlo announced that he had deleted the draft.


Recommended Reading 

In Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant shared his knowledge of basketball and how he prepared himself physically and mentally to become an NBA legend.

Click here to place a hold.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

An Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. What starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures found within. Click here to place a hold.

The Track Series by Jason Reynolds

Recommended to him by his daughter Gianna, Kobe Bryant thought this series would help parents understand their athlete children and help kids overcome obstacles in life and sports.

Click here to place a hold.

Hockey Reads

If you`re looking for a hockey book that goes beyond the standard highlights of the past, try these titles below. There`s something for everyone, including romance and mystery. Happy reading!

Mystery

Broken Ice by Matt Goldman

Nils Shapiro has been hired to find missing Linnea Engstrom, a teenager from the small northern hockey town of Warroad, MN. Most of Warroad is in Minneapolis for the state high school hockey tournament, and Linnea never returned from last night's game. Linnea's friend Haley Housch is also missing-and soon found dead. Linnea could be anywhere, and someone doesn't want her found. Is Linnea a victim or is she playing a dangerous game? As bodies start piling up, the clues lead Nils north to Warroad, a small, quiet town with many secrets to hide.

Autobiography

Black Ice: The Val James Story

 by Valmore James & John Gallagher

Val James became the first African American player in the NHL when he took to the ice with the Buffalo Sabres in 1982. In 1987 he became the first black player of any nationality to skate for the Toronto Maple Leafs. An inspiring story of a trail-blazing athlete who endured and overcame discrimination to realize his dreams and become an inspiration for future generations.

Romance

Maybe this Love by Jennifer Snow

After a disastrous night in Vegas, hockey player Ben Westmore realizes two things: 1.) It's time to lie low for a while and 2.) he needs a lawyer. Olivia Davis doesn't need anyone derailing her law career or her dreams of starting a family, least of all a playboy like Ben. She's slowly falling for his rugged charm, but with so much on the line, Olivia has to decide whether Ben can truly change or if he's just playing the game.

Fiction

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

The small community of Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don't expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how hard times get, they've always been able to take pride in their local hockey team. So it's a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback.

Graphic Novel (Thriller)

Roughneck by Jeff Lemire

Derek Ouelette's glory days are behind him. His hockey career ended a decade earlier in a violent incident on the ice. Since then he's been drinking too much and fighting anyone who crosses him. He never counts on his long-lost sister, Beth, showing up one day on the run from an abusive boyfriend. They hunker down in a secluded hunting camp deep in the woods, where they attempt to find a way to reconnect with each other. Beth's ex draws closer, threatening to pull both Derek and Beth back into a world of self-destruction that they are fighting to leave behind.

Non-fiction 

The Russian Five by Keith Gave

When the Detroit Red Wings were rebooting their franchise after more than two decades of relative futility, they knew the best place to find world-class players who could help turn things around more quickly was Russia. All they had to do was make history by drafting them, then figure out how to get them out.

The main branch will be showing The Russian Five documentary on January 17th @ 2:30 in the 3rd floor computer lab. Click here to watch the trailer.

Win prizes for reading! 

Log your books & reviews for the WooReads Adult Reading Challenge!

Baseball: An Illustrated History

Baseball: An Illustrated History
Publisher: New York : A.A. Knopf (1994)
ISBN: 9780679404590
Call #: REF 796.357 W258b

Baseball is the only sport that has the honor of being called "America`s pastime." Fans of the game will be impressed by the fascinating history in Baseball: An Illustrated History. A companion to Ken Burns` PBS television series, this reference book  goes beyond home run statistics and dug-out feuds. It tells a story of a game that influenced and has been influenced by the politics, business, and social customs of American life.

With over 500 photographs, many in full color, baseball aficionados and novices can immerse themselves in decades of baseball history. From when the rules of baseball were first drawn up in 1845 by Alexander Cartwright to Jackie Robinson`s major-league debut in 1947, from the 1981 player`s strike to the Dodgers` move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, this book brings to life an essential component of American history.

To explore Baseball: An Illustrated History, visit the Sports & Performing Arts reference collection on the 3rd floor at the Main Library. Although this book is library-use only, you may take pictures of its photographs and stories. 

The 100th Birthday of Jackie Robinson

Today we are celebrating the 100th birthday of baseball player & civil rights icon, Jackie Robinson. Born January 31, 1919 in Cairo, GA, Robinson became the first player to break the MLB's color barrier when he made his major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.  The MLB had been segregated since the late 1800s, and Robinson's debut had served as a stepping stone for integration everywhere. That season he was named the National League's Rookie of The Year, and in 1949 was voted the National League's MVP. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. 

Want to learn more? 

Read: 
-Robinson`s autobiography “I Never Had It Made” 
-“Jackie Robinson: an intimate portrait” by Rachel Robinson with Lee Daniels
-“Jackie's nine: Jackie Robinson's values to live by” by Sharon Robinson 

Watch:
-42: The Jackie Robinson Story, starring Chadwick Boseman
-Jackie Robinson (presented by PBS) 

Listen:
-“Who was Jackie Robinson?” by Gail Herman 

Treasures from the Worcester Room: Worcester's Major League Team

As the Boston Red Sox open up the 2017 Major League Baseball season, it is interesting to remember that Worcester once had its own MLB team.  In fact, the Worcester team is responsible for some fascinating and important baseball milestones as well.  Between 1880 and 1882, Worcester was home to the incredibly, creatively named "Worcester Worcesters".  The Worcester Public Library's Worcester Room has a number of resources that detail the team's unique legacy.

Originally a minor league team, the Worcester Worcesters joined the majors in 1880 thanks to a campaign spearheaded by manager Frank Bancroft.  Bancroft was apparently quite a skilled promoter.  For example, as can be seen in the newspaper article above, the Worcester team became the first American professional baseball team to play in Cuba.

One of the proudest moments for the Worcesters was when pitcher Lee Richmond (pictured above) became the first pitcher in Major League history to throw a perfect game.  On June 12, 1880, he completed the rare feat as the Worcesters beat Cleveland 1-0.  Richmond was so skilled a player that as one baseball history site says, "his dominance for Brown University’s squad – while he was being lured in and out of the majors by Harry Wright and Frank Bancroft – so upset the Ivy League that they legislated against any 'professionalism' in the college ranks, laying the foundation of NCAA policy to this day."

While Richmond was an ace pitcher, the Worcesters were perhaps not the most skilled team.  As the book The Worcester Club: 1880-1882 charitably states, "it became evident that the Worcesters weren't the best team in the league, but they prided themselves on being the most gentlemanly."  At the end of the 1882 season, due to low attendance numbers, the Worcesters were removed from the league.

Interestingly, after the club disbanded, Richmond would go on to become a doctor, and then a math teacher in Ohio, where he taught the son of another perfect game pitcher.  According to an article from the Society for American Baseball Research, Richmond told his young student "Your father pitched a perfect game. Well, so did I. It doesn’t mean anything around here and it isn’t going to help you with your geometry."

While baseball is now back in Worcester, with the Bravehearts playing games here every summer, it is important to look back on the legacy of the Worcesters.  Just another example of the fascinating stories of Worcester's long history that you can find in the Worcester Room.