A loving perspective on a beloved Yankee hero.
Mickey Mantle was a gifted, talented white baseball player who was admired and truly loved by his fans.
Winter recounts how Mantle grew up in a poor Oklahoma mining community, where his father saw baseball as his son’s future. He was named for a ballplayer, drilled in baseball skills, and taught to be a switch-hitter. He overcame a serious bone disease that nearly led to a leg amputation and became an amazing athlete, incredibly fast and powerful. He wanted to be the greatest player ever; he wanted to be perfect. In his first world series with the New York Yankees, he sustained an injury that caused him pain for the rest of his life. But, in spite of the pain, he sent home runs flying out of stadiums and set many records, some still in place. He never felt he lived up to what was expected of him, but to fans, teammates, and even opposing players, he was simply wonderful. Winter tells the story of Mantle’s baseball feats and mishaps with obvious affection, using a colloquial voice that helps maintain the icon’s humanity. He puts a positive spin on his relationship with his parents and omits many personal difficulties and challenges, though he briefly mentions them in an author’s note. Payne’s softly drawn acrylic-and-pencil illustrations nicely capture events and emotions. Endpapers show Mickey’s No. 7 set in Yankee pinstripes.
A loving perspective on a beloved Yankee hero. (Picture book/biography. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93352-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2017
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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