Good-hearted sporty fun.
A talented young soccer player leaves the recreational league for a more competitive team and discovers a different sports culture.
Ben Cutler loves playing soccer with his best friend, Jay-Jay Wright, in the Pizza League. Their team, the Anchovies, celebrate their goals with silly dances and enjoy postgame snacks, win or lose. But when Coach Cleary invites Ben to play for the West Harbor Soccer Academy, Ben finds a much more serious and less fun environment. He feels nervous before games and is surprised and confused by the “no joking around in soccer” attitude of both coach and players; charts listing the differences between West Harbor and the Pizza League are featured throughout. “Host-slash-narrator-slash-play-by-play man” Freddy introduces the Good Sports League series and pops up in graphic novel–style illustrations interspersed throughout; many readers will appreciate a break from the text, while some might find the switch between formats jarring. Freddy states the moral up front—sports should be enjoyable—and this fast-paced, heartfelt story bears out the message. The story closes out with fun activities, including an invitation for readers to create their own sporty nicknames, a sports quiz, and space for readers to write down a list of their goals in life. Ben presents white in the dynamic grayscale illustrations, while Jay-Jay is Black, and Freddy appears to be brown-skinned. Secondary characters are diverse.
Good-hearted sporty fun. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781419763656
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A stellar collaboration that introduces an important and intriguing individual to today’s readers.
Two bestselling authors imagine the boyhood of the man who became the legendary boxing icon Muhammad Ali.
Cassius was a spirited child growing up in segregated Louisville, Kentucky. He had a loving home with his parents and younger brother, Rudy. Granddaddy Herman also was an important figure, imparting life lessons. His parents wanted him to succeed in school, but Cassius had difficulty reading and found more pleasure in playing and exploring outdoors. Early on, he and Rudy knew the restrictions of being African American, for example, encountering “Whites Only” signs at parks, but the brothers dreamed of fame like that enjoyed by Black boxer Joe Louis. Popular Cassius was especially close to Lucius “Lucky” Wakely; despite their academic differences, their deep connection remained after Lucky received a scholarship to a Catholic school. When Cassius wandered into the Columbia Boxing Gym, it seemed to be destiny, and he developed into a successful youth boxer. Told in two voices, with prose for the voice of Lucky and free verse for Cassius, the narrative provides readers with a multidimensional view of the early life of and influences on an important figure in sports and social change. Lucky’s observations give context while Cassius’ poetry encapsulates his drive, energy, and gift with words. Combined with dynamic illustrations by Anyabwile, the book captures the historical and social environment that produced Muhammad Ali.
A stellar collaboration that introduces an important and intriguing individual to today’s readers. (bibliography) (Biographical novel. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-49816-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown and HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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