by Karen Judson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1995
The facts are illuminating in this fascinating entry in the Issues in Focus series: Each year about 1,000,000 students play football, but only 150 will ever make it to an NFL team—odds of 6,000 to 1. Young basketball players have even less chance of making the pros. Yet in 1992, US households spent $45 billion on sports equipment and clothing. A 1993 Little League champ, age 12, sold autographed baseballs for $35 apiece, the same year 264 major league baseball players earned $1,000,000 or more annually. Judson (Computer Crime, 1994, etc.) ably and repeatedly demonstrates how money and sports are linked in every way, at every level; among a host of issues, she raises moral and ethical questions and covers the social and health consequences that the pressure to win brings. While the author includes positive aspects of the 1990s sports scene in her book, illustrated with periodic black-and-white photographs, the statistics and anecdotes paint a dismal picture: Playing for fun is obsolete and winning at all cost are the sad messages this hard-hitting book delivers. (notes, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11+)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-89490-622-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Enslow
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1995
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by Karen Judson
by Stephan Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2020
A thoughtful portrayal of determined multinational teens balancing authenticity with pursuing their dreams.
Who doesn’t want to be a K-pop idol?
Fifteen-year-old Candace Park is just a typical Korean American teen from Fort Lee, New Jersey. She loves hanging out with her friends Imani and Ethan while watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, mukbang shows about eating massive amounts of Korean food, and advice from beauty vloggers. While Candace focuses on doing well in school, her hardworking immigrant Umma and Abba gave up on their own dreams to run a convenience store. Candace loves to sing and is a huge K-pop stan—but secretly, because she fears it’s a bit stereotypical. Everything changes after Candace and her friends see an ad for local auditions to find members of a new K-pop group and Candace decides to try out, an impulse that takes her on the journey of a lifetime to spend a summer in Seoul. Lee’s fun-filled, fast-paced K-pop romp reads like a reality show competition while cleverly touching on issues of racism, feminism, unfair beauty expectations and labor practices, classism and class struggles, and immigration and privilege. While more explanation of why there are such unfair standards in the K-pop industry would have been helpful, Lee invites readers to enjoy this world and question the industry’s actions without condescension or disdain. Imani is Black; Ethan is White and gay.
A thoughtful portrayal of determined multinational teens balancing authenticity with pursuing their dreams. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-63993-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Point/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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PERSPECTIVES
by Roland Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2007
Dare-devil mountain-climber Peak Marcello (14), decides to scale the Woolworth Building and lands in jail. To save him, his long-lost Everest-trekking dad appears with a plan for the duo to make a life in Katmandu—a smokescreen to make Peak become the youngest person in history to summit Mount Everest. Peak must learn to navigate the extreme and exotic terrain but negotiate a code of ethics among men. This and other elements such as the return of the long-lost father, bite-size chunks of information about climbing and altitude, an all-male cast, competition and suspense (can Peak be the youngest ever to summit Everest, and can he beat out a 14-year-old Nepalese boy who accompanies him?) creates the tough stuff of a “boys read.” The narrative offers enough of a bumpy ride to satisfy thrill seekers, while Peak’s softer reflective quality lends depth and some—but not too much—emotional resonance. Teachers will want to pair this with Mark Pfetzer’s Within Reach: My Everest Story (1998). (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-15-202417-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
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by Roland Smith ; illustrated by Victor Juhasz
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by Roland Smith
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