by Steven C. McCartney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2015
An often vibrant supplement for phys ed teachers.
A physical education columnist and teacher aims to motivate young people with a 12-step plan for attaining a lifetime of good health.
McCartney’s upbeat fitness debut begins with his 2013 newspaper column for the Rockaway Beach newspaper The Wave about the inspiration for this book: his son Andre’s work as a professional ballroom, Latin, and hip-hop dance instructor and choreographer. The author notes that he had been estranged from Andre for nearly 30 years until he received a Facebook friend request from his ex-partner, Andre’s mother. He and she eventually began to heal their old wounds, with their love for their son binding them together. McCartney’s slim book, adorned with eye-catching cartoons and exciting, colorful photos, isn’t an instruction manual; rather, it’s a motivational supplement for physical fitness programs. As such, it contains 12 things that children and young teenagers can do regarding exercise and health. For example, Step 5 gives reasons why dancing can be useful: “I dance for physical literacy to improve my aerobic activities, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, and body composition. This helps me maximize my performance, improve my health and even manage my weight.” One of the energetic, intriguing photos shows Andre dancing in what appears to be a park; others have more of an urban feel to them, such as one in which Andre perches between a brick building and a flight of outdoor stairs. Physical education and health instructors could use this manual to reinforce exercise lessons; for example, Step 8 urges dancers to always take five minutes to warm up and cool down, in order to redistribute blood to their muscles. By learning the 12 steps, McCartney says, children and young teens can become “exercise ambassadors.” The guide concludes with charts, a quiz, an easy-to-understand glossary, and a pledge for participants to sign. (Although dancing is the focus of the pledge, one may easily substitute the name of any other physical activity.) In a couple of places, the text is a bit awkward, as in Step 4, which asserts that dancing helps the body perform everyday functions: “This allows me to carry out normal, daily task without straining.” However, such minor issues don’t diminish the book’s important, enthusiastic message.
An often vibrant supplement for phys ed teachers.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-1506164878
Page Count: 36
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
by Action Bronson ; photographed by Bonnie Stephens ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 20, 2021
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
Share your opinion of this book
by Rebecca Skloot ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 2010
Skloot's meticulous, riveting account strikes a humanistic balance between sociological history, venerable portraiture and...
A dense, absorbing investigation into the medical community's exploitation of a dying woman and her family's struggle to salvage truth and dignity decades later.
In a well-paced, vibrant narrative, Popular Science contributor and Culture Dish blogger Skloot (Creative Writing/Univ. of Memphis) demonstrates that for every human cell put under a microscope, a complex life story is inexorably attached, to which doctors, researchers and laboratories have often been woefully insensitive and unaccountable. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, an African-American mother of five, was diagnosed with what proved to be a fatal form of cervical cancer. At Johns Hopkins, the doctors harvested cells from her cervix without her permission and distributed them to labs around the globe, where they were multiplied and used for a diverse array of treatments. Known as HeLa cells, they became one of the world's most ubiquitous sources for medical research of everything from hormones, steroids and vitamins to gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, even the polio vaccine—all without the knowledge, must less consent, of the Lacks family. Skloot spent a decade interviewing every relative of Lacks she could find, excavating difficult memories and long-simmering outrage that had lay dormant since their loved one's sorrowful demise. Equal parts intimate biography and brutal clinical reportage, Skloot's graceful narrative adeptly navigates the wrenching Lack family recollections and the sobering, overarching realities of poverty and pre–civil-rights racism. The author's style is matched by a methodical scientific rigor and manifest expertise in the field.
Skloot's meticulous, riveting account strikes a humanistic balance between sociological history, venerable portraiture and Petri dish politics.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4000-5217-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2010
Share your opinion of this book
More by Rebecca Skloot
BOOK REVIEW
edited by Rebecca Skloot and Floyd Skloot
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.