by Gregory Zuckerman with Elijah Zuckerman with Gabriel Zuckerman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2016
There is both solace and inspiration in these 11 heroes, but it doesn’t take much to imagine that for each of them, there...
Stories of 11 athletes overcoming adversity to become the cream of their sports, from Wall Street Journal writer Zuckerman and his two sons.
Some of these athletes’ stories are well-known, how they excelled despite the most serious obstacles, be it having only one hand and dreaming of being a baseball player (Jim Abbott) or standing down the racism that attended tennis, as Althea Gibson did. Others may be more obscure. Soccer goalie Tim Howard had to struggle with Tourette’s and obsessive-compulsive behavior; Stephen Curry was small enough that he had to be a walk-on at Virginia Tech to even get a chance at basketball. There is poverty, sexual abuse, physical abuse, abandonment, illiteracy, and even civil war in Congo. While the subjects can carry almost any weight, the Zuckermans struggle to bring them to life. Often luck was the key to success: being in the right place at the right time and seen by someone who got and kept the ball rolling. And while it is never easy to explain transcendent sporting ability, quotes like “It was like I was floating on air,” from Tim Howard, or—without diminishing LeBron James’ mother’s influence—“He had his mother to love and comfort him” have little insight to offer.
There is both solace and inspiration in these 11 heroes, but it doesn’t take much to imagine that for each of them, there were dozens who didn’t get the break. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17382-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
by Raina Telgemeier ; illustrated by Raina Telgemeier ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2019
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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BOOK REVIEW
by Raina Telgemeier ; illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
BOOK REVIEW
by Raina Telgemeier ; illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
BOOK REVIEW
by Raina Telgemeier ; illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
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PROFILES
by Shannon Hale ; illustrated by LeUyen Pham ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2017
A painful and painfully recognizable tale of one girl’s struggle to make and keep “one good friend.” (author’s note)...
A truth-telling graphic memoir whose theme song could be Johnny Lee’s old country song “Lookin’ for Love in all the Wrong Places.”
Shannon, depicted in Pham’s clear, appealing panels as a redheaded white girl, starts kindergarten in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1979, and her story ends just before sixth grade. Desperately longing to be in “the group” at school, Shannon suffers persistent bullying, particularly from a mean girl, Jenny, which leads to chronic stomachaches, missing school, and doctor visits. Contemporary readers will recognize behaviors indicative of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but the doctor calls it anxiety and tells Shannon to stop worrying. Instead of being a place of solace, home adds to Shannon’s stress. The middle child of five, she suffers abuse from her oldest sibling, Wendy, whom Pham often portrays as a fierce, gigantic bear and whom readers see their mother worrying about from the beginning. The protagonist’s faith (presented as generically Christian) surfaces overtly a few times but mostly seems to provide a moral compass for Shannon as she negotiates these complicated relationships. This episodic story sometimes sticks too close to the truth for comfort, but readers will appreciate Shannon’s fantastic imagination that lightens her tough journey toward courage and self-acceptance.
A painful and painfully recognizable tale of one girl’s struggle to make and keep “one good friend.” (author’s note) (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-416-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
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by Shannon Hale ; illustrated by Tracy Subisak
BOOK REVIEW
by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale ; illustrated by Asiah Fulmore
BOOK REVIEW
by Shannon Hale ; illustrated by LeUyen Pham
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