Beth Peck

After the soldiers come, Papa tells his family that they must leave everything behind and set sail for America. The journey across the Caribbean is dangerous and long, and our narrator and his little sister keep asking — just how many days is it to America? Prolific children's author Eve Bunting, herself an immigrant from Ireland, shares the story of a new generation of pilgrims who are willing to risk their lives to look for freedom in America.

The year the narrator's grandma was born, Negro League great Josh Gibson hit a baseball so hard it went all the way from Pittsburgh and landed in Philadelphia! No surprise then that Grandmama learns to play baseball just like Josh Gibson. Warm and expressive illustrations depict this nostalgic saga of two heroes — Gibson and Grandmama.