An overcrowded tale of some underappreciated football history.
Shanahan’s nonfiction picture book tells how Michigan State University football coach Duffy Daugherty established a recruitment “pipeline” of Hawaiian players from 1954 to 1983.
American football was popular among Hawaiian Polynesians, but they didn’t see action in major competitions until Daugherty began recruiting players recommended to him by University of Hawai’i coach Tom Kaulukukui. He recruited 11 players between the 1950s and ’80s, including three who participated in the 1966 “Game of the Century” against Notre Dame. These same players also scored all the points in a memorable come-from-behind 11-8 victory over Ohio State earlier that season. After a field goal from Irish Hawaiian barefoot kicker Dick Kenney and a fourth-quarter touchdown from Samoan Bob Apisa, the winning play that day came from German Hawaiian player Charlie Wedemeyer. Shanahan tells the story with a combination of third-person description and haphazard speech-bubble conversations between Daugherty, Kaulukukui, and Apisa, who meet up for a reunion of the Michigan State Hawaii Pipeline Players. The book gives some key personalities their historical due. The barrage of mini-biographies and reminiscences, though, may prove difficult to unpack for those without prior knowledge. The full-color uncredited illustrations are extremely minimal, with images of the main players copied and pasted on multiple pages.
An overcrowded tale of some underappreciated football history.Pub Date: April 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798901810576
Page Count: 25
Publisher: Boundless Books
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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