Fun and effort trump commercialization and competitiveness every time in sports, and this book tells a plain truth that...
If you have a hankering for hockey, when the Gretzky family weighs in, sit up and listen.
This is a sports story about attitude, which can rarely be emphasized enough, because it rarely sinks in deep enough to leave its lasting mark. Young Taylor has made Wayne’s team—that’s “the kid they are already calling the Great One.” Taylor brings a world of enthusiasm with him, but he has plenty to learn, first and foremost that he has to stop trying to impress everyone else and stop pouting when he makes a mistake. Gretzky and Holomis keep the narrative simple, sticking to the cardinal rules: “You don’t start something and then quit…if you know you’re not the biggest or the fastest player, you work on being the smartest,” Coach Wally tells Taylor after a blunder. He goes on: “I picked you because you worked hard. You had a great attitude.” (Coach Wally is patterned after the Great One’s father.) Noting Coach Wally’s past tense, Taylor goes on to try to be the best he can be on a team that Sylvester has invested with brio and diversity: boys, girls, white kids, dark-skinned kids, one gentleman with purple locks. Sports will never deliver the most unless the words of Coach Wally are taken to heart: “As long as you have fun, work hard and do your best, that is all that matters.”
Fun and effort trump commercialization and competitiveness every time in sports, and this book tells a plain truth that Gretzky learned early. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-670-06990-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Puffin/Penguin Random House Canada
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming tale of an athlete who may not steal any bases but who will certainly steal readers’ hearts.
Ohtani, pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, teams up with Blank and Liem to tell the story of how his dog, Decoy, threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
It’s a big day! Decoy leaps “off the bed. Then back onto the bed. Then off the bed.” The enthusiastic pup heads outside to practice with his lucky baseball but is quickly distracted by squirrels (“we’ll play later!”), airplanes (“flyin’ high!”), and flowers (“smell ya soon!”). Dog and pitcher then head to the ballpark. In the locker room, Decoy high-paws Shohei’s teammates. It’s nearly time! But as Shohei prepares to warm up, Decoy realizes that he’s forgotten something important: his lucky ball. Without it, there will be “no championships, no parades, and no hot dogs!” Back home he goes, returning just in time. With Shohei at the plate, Decoy runs from the mound to his owner, rolling the ball into Shohei’s mitt for a “Striiiiike!” Related from a dog’s point of view, Ohtani and Blank’s energetic text lends the tale a sense of urgency and suspense. Liem’s illustrations capture the excitement of the first day of baseball season and the joys of locker room camaraderie, as well as Shohei and Decoy’s mutual affection—even when the ball is drenched in slobber, Shohei’s love for his pet shines through, and clearly, Decoy is focused when it matters.
A charming tale of an athlete who may not steal any bases but who will certainly steal readers’ hearts. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780063460775
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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