Well-known but often engaging sports stories with self-help elements.
Gold imparts life lessons for young adults through accounts of great moments in sports.
The author focuses on the stories of famous athletes of both the past and present in these pages, asserting that the book’s purpose is to help teach adolescents some of the skills and values that will help them succeed as adults. In many chapters, he pairs a relatively recent story with one from the past to present a piece of timeless wisdom. The author touches on a wide range of athletic figures: He describes the likes of champion boxer Muhammad Ali and baseball great Roberto Clemente breaking ground in their respective fields and as social activists. He also discusses the quiet confidence and mastery of basketball star Kawhi Leonard and tennis legend Steffi Graf. At the end of each section, Gold offers broader lessons from the athletes’ stories; in a section about mental toughness, for instance, he describes soccer star Lindsey Horan’s decision to practice “mindfulness” as a way of overcoming anxiety: “Before every game, she centered herself, blocking out distractions and mentally rehearsing her responses to difficult situations on the field.” She would go on to lead Team USA to a World Cup championship. He then describes snowboarder Shaun White’s recovery from a terrible accident in 2017. Gold uses these tales to effectively delve into such concepts as the importance of confronting fear and celebrating small wins as part of a recovery journey. Readers of sports-oriented self-help books aimed at young adults will find much that’s familiar here, but Gold’s storytelling is solid and he offers many great examples. Nevertheless, it would have benefited greatly from the inclusion of photos or illustrations, as many young readers may lack a frame of reference for the times, places, or actions the book describes.
Well-known but often engaging sports stories with self-help elements.Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2025
ISBN: 9798309615490
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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