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MARTINA & CHRISSIE

THE GREATEST RIVALRY IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS

A fine sports story.

A picture-book introduction to tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

“Hey, guys— / yeah, I’m talking to you,” begins Bildner’s case to prove that the tennis rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova was “the greatest rivalry in the history of sports.” With the tone of a used-car salesman, he exhorts readers, “You NEED to know about Martina and Chrissie,” and proceeds to show how each player grew up with the game and how their separate paths led to facing each other on the court. They met 80 times, and Navratilova won 43 times. Was this rivalry the greatest in the history of sports? Greater than the Red Sox and Yankees, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, Duke and North Carolina? Debatable. Like a failed drop shot, the hyperbolic tone mars an otherwise superb sports volume. Simply describing the rivalry would have been enough to show how great it was, without trying to convince readers when there are no points of comparison to others. But the lively prose and Helquist’s action-packed, in-your-face acrylic-and-oil illustrations yield a work as engaging as an actual Evert-Navratilova match. The dramatic cover and well-designed pages will draw readers in and make them feel they have courtside seats.

A fine sports story. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: March 14, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-7636-7308-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016

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HORRIBLE HARRY SAYS GOODBYE

From the Horrible Harry series , Vol. 37

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

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BEATRICE ZINKER, UPSIDE DOWN THINKER

From the Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker series , Vol. 1

A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.

Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.

Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.

A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017

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