Batter up for any baseball-loving family.
A boy learns the ins and outs of batting practice in this colorful, educational children’s book.
They don’t call it America’s pastime for nothing. Baseball is one of the most popular sports for kids and adults alike, and there’s nothing wrong with starting early for basic skills and knowledge of the game. Here, young Nick is so excited for baseball practice that it’s the only thing he can think about (never mind lunch and math class). He and his teammates even wear their uniforms to school. After school, Nick meets up with his teammates—including Flo, Lucy, Carla, and others—and Coach to learn one of the most important baseball skills there is: hitting. Nick’s baseball coach guides his team of novice players with thorough explanations and a few smart tips, and soon, the kids on Nick’s team are smacking balls against a fence. They even learn about Babe Ruth, arguably the greatest slugger of all time. By the time the children end their baseball practice, they can’t wait to do it all again. Little kids (some adults too) can obsess over their favorite things, and this series is certainly best for baseball-obsessives. Author Christofora (The Hometown All-Stars, 2013, etc.) is a Little League coach himself, and his passion for the game—and for the kids he teaches—is obvious in the work. Prose is lively and engaging, not too much for a baseball-obsessed child to handle alone. Kids will delight in learning the basics, most of which they can take right into the backyard and put into practice. For grownups, Christofora also includes some coaching tips sure to jump-start any team’s practice schedule: “Put the batting station in front of a fence, so you don’t have to chase and pick up one million and one balls.” Tangeman’s fun-filled illustrations paint a glorious image of a lively day on the lush green of a baseball field, while Christofora’s constant encouragement for children to get outside and play is a wonderful notion.
Batter up for any baseball-loving family.Pub Date: July 19, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9863493-1-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarens Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An overstuffed, enjoyable jaunt through the NFL’s recent past.
Four decades of football, as chronicled by a well-known sportswriter.
Longtime Sports Illustrated gridiron reporter King takes a maximalist approach, devoting one chapter to each year from 1984, when he started writing about the NFL, to 2023, the last season he covered the league full-time. This lengthy professional memoir features anecdotes and commentary, an argument-starting list of names for his “Mount Rushmore of Pro Football,” a crossword puzzle, and informative tidbits on tactics and playcalling, as well as profiles of singular players and warranted criticism of league bosses’ handling of player health and sports gambling. King skillfully charts the NFL’s inexorable growth. When he started, snail-mail newsletters were must-reads. In today’s media landscape, streaming networks have spent $4.3 billion to broadcast 58 games. As the author illustrates, Paul Tagliabue, a relatively unheralded league commissioner, engineered the year-round fan experience, with “tentpole events like a draft with more fanfare, free agency, and a new TV channel.” Polls showed that baseball and football were equally popular in the ’80s, but, by 2024, football had four times as many fans. Yet King’s kitchen-sink approach results in some bloat. Nobody yearns for a minute-by-minute rehash of the Cowboys’ 1991 draft or a rundown of the “quotes of 2002.” But amid the overabundance, there’s ample charm. In his best chapters, King catches up with guys he wrote about years ago. An 80-something Hall of Fame coach sketches Xs and Os on a notepad. A retired player known for his creative trash-talking shares tricks of the trade. In a powerful chapter, King visits a lab and looks at the damaged brain of a player he voted for in Hall of Fame balloting. This dovetails with King’s number-crunching on per-game hits sustained by players, important analysis as the league considers expanding its schedule.
An overstuffed, enjoyable jaunt through the NFL’s recent past.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781324123637
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Basketball fans will enjoy Pippen’s bird’s-eye view of some of the sport’s greatest contests.
The Chicago Bulls stalwart tells all—and then some.
Hall of Famer Pippen opens with a long complaint: Yes, he’s a legend, but he got short shrift in the ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan and the Bulls, The Last Dance. Given that Jordan emerges as someone not quite friend enough to qualify as a frenemy, even though teammates for many years, the maltreatment is understandable. This book, Pippen allows, is his retort to a man who “was determined to prove to the current generation of fans that he was larger-than-life during his day—and still larger than LeBron James, the player many consider his equal, if not superior.” Coming from a hardscrabble little town in Arkansas and playing for a small college, Pippen enjoyed an unlikely rise to NBA stardom. He played alongside and against some of the greats, of whom he writes appreciatively (even Jordan). Readers will gain insight into the lives of characters such as Dennis Rodman, who “possessed an unbelievable basketball IQ,” and into the behind-the-scenes work that led to the Bulls dynasty, which ended only because, Pippen charges, the team’s management was so inept. Looking back on his early years, Pippen advocates paying college athletes. “Don’t give me any of that holier-than-thou student-athlete nonsense,” he writes. “These young men—and women—are athletes first, not students, and make up the labor that generates fortunes for their schools. They are, for lack of a better term, slaves.” The author also writes evenhandedly of the world outside basketball: “No matter how many championships I have won, and millions I have earned, I never forget the color of my skin and that some people in this world hate me just because of that.” Overall, the memoir is closely observed and uncommonly modest, given Pippen’s many successes, and it moves as swiftly as a playoff game.
Basketball fans will enjoy Pippen’s bird’s-eye view of some of the sport’s greatest contests.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982165-19-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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