Middle Grade Review: Big Book of Who: Rising Stars

 

The set up: there is a question asked about each athlete

Each answer has a 1 to 2 page spread with picture and mini biography

The book is broke into sections: Next Generation, Phenoms, Record Breakers, Trailblazers, and Trendsetters 

There is a lot of information tucked into these pages, making it perfect for any sports fan. 

* this had many women athletes - except for Simone Biles.

Review: my First Book of Hockey

Introduction to the game of hockey - the rules, the equipment, and how the game is played

My Thoughts: This book is perfect for a child learning about hockey. The test is limited, but very informative. The pictures combines with the illustrations are great. The cartoon text adds humor to the book. An excellent way to learn about the sport.

Review: Hockey: then to wow

A history of hockey.

My Thoughts: I really liked this book. Confession: I know almost nothing about hockey, so it was enjoyable to learn about the history of the sport. I loved the photographs, the trivia, and the layout of the book. It's a great overview of the game.

I only wish there had been more mention of women in the sport. There was a two page spread of great women players, but there were opportunities throughout the book for more mentions.

Hockey fans young and old will enjoy this book. 

Tween Tuesday Review: Slam Dunk

Lists of 10 covering a variety of things in basketball from skills to shoes to hairstyles.

The Good:
Lots of great pictures
Interesting List Topics: Clutch players, sixth man, fans, triple-double threats, game winning shots, and much more. 
Lots of Facts and Stats within the lists
Easy to pick up and put down because of the format

The Bad:
There's ONE two list that features WNBA players and one woman's mentioned in a list of basketball families. But that's it.
I know the WNBA is no where near as popular as the NBA, but still I felt like more women should have been included.

Overall: A great book that with have basketball fans checking out and arguing over the lists. Perfect for conversation starters. Perfect for fans of the game. Great for reluctant readers. I think this one will circulate like hotcakes in a library 

* Source: Sent for Review

Tween Tuesday Review: All Access Sports

Tagline: A behind the scenes look at the coolest things in sports

Set-Up:
The book's divided into three categories: Athletes, Places, and Gear.
Athletes: Facts about your favorites: from their pre-game rituals to what they like to do with their downtime to their favorite sneakers.
Cool Places: building monsters trucks and cool baseball fields
Gear: What does a hockey goalie really wear - plus cool history from Cooperstown and the making of a football

The Good:
The lift and look pages are awesome
Lots of facts
Great pictures
I like how it covers a variety of sports - from conventional to non conventional

The Bad: 
There's nothing bad about this book

Overall:Perfect - Get this for the young sports fans in your life!

* Sent for review

Nonfiction Review: Football then to Wow!

I fully confess that I don't know much about football. I watch it occasionally and usually with a book in my hand. I know the basics of the game and how it's played, but I don't know the history of the sport. I'm not one to memorize STATs of the players, but I appreciate a good player.

I found this book fascinating. I liked learning more about the history of the sport, although probably the set-up of the book helped too. The timelines were great - not overcrowded with too much information, illustrations to help make the points, and humor.  The book talked about the rules, how the ball's changed, the different type of equipment used over the years, the Stadiums, the fans, the salaries of players, and the STATs. Important players through the decades were highlighted and the book talked about how the positions have changed over the years as the game grew. They talked about coaching styles and if offense or defense won more Super Bowl championships. I enjoyed the part of how technology changed the game, especially Draft Day.

A remarkable book for football fans of every age or for anyone wanting to learn more about the sport. Great book for libraries!

Review: What are the Chances?

Rare plays in sports history

The Set-Up:
The stats are split up into four categories: Rare, Really Rare,
Super Rare, Almost Impossible, and Never Happened

Rare talks about the number of home runs in a season or touchdowns in one game or assists in a basketball game or blocked shots in basketball or goals in a hockey season.

Really Rare mentions passing yards in an NFL game, goals in a NHL season, steals in a NBA game, teams ranked #1 for an entire NCAA season, or no-hitters thrown by rookies in an MBL game..

Super Rare shows off comebacks from 3-1 in an NBA playoff series, 1,000 assists at the NCAA level, passing yards for a NFL season, and the number of aces in one tennis match.

Almost Impossible showcases a Women's and Men's team both the NCAA basketball champions, strikeouts in one game, goals in a World Cup soccer game, and points scored in a NBA game.

Never Happened I like the inclusion of this chapter- stats that almost happened, but never did.

The Good: Great stats, fantastic pictures, interesting trivia, and set-up in straight forward, easy to read chapters that are perfect for sports fans.

The Bad: Again, there are only a handful of examples for women's sports. Are they not rare enough? If I found them with a few moments of searching, should more be included??
What about these:
Mia Hamm played for a national team at the age of 15
Lisa Leslie was the first WNBA player to win the regular season MVP, the All-Star Game MVP and the playoff MVP in the same season (2001)
Candace Parker was the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament
Did Babe Didrickson not have any rare moments in sports history?

Overall:  Besides the lack of women mentioned, I really enjoyed reading this one, so I can see how easily readers will flock to this book and love it for the stats and the photos and they will enjoy talking about the numbers with others

* This book was sent for review

Tween Tuesday Review: All Stars

101 Athletes Every Fan Needs to Know

I have an issue with sports books and the discrepancy between men highlighted and women highlighted. While this book still isn't great, it's better.

What I wanted to see: 
What about the women who played baseball in the WWII era? Or the women who play softball?
Why is there only one woman talked about in basketball section?
What about the women hockey players?

The Good:
The section on Olympics was excellent in terms of the women to men ratio. 

The photographs are amazingly in this book. The Super Stats and Fast Stats are great sources of breakout information and entertaining stats. Kids and teens alike will enjoy this one. 

Mini Review: Sports Illustrated Kids: Stats! The Greatest Number in Sports

Lots of sports facts based on stats.

The Good: Great pictures and interesting facts make this a fascinating read.

The Bad: Does Sports Illustrated Kids think women don't play sports? While the book's full of professional male sport teams -there's nothing about any professional women's sports teams - no one from the WNBA. Plus there's only a handful of women's stats. Is it really that hard? These altheles weren't even mentioned:  Billie Jean King, Wilma Ruldoph, Jackie Joyner-Kersee. What does it say to the teens today about women's sports?

 Here's how it could be been better:

• There was a 2 page spread on Ironmen - men who played significant consecutive games - where is the post for women?

• There was a two page spread for Babe Ruth as well as Michael Jordan - but Babe Didrikson wasn't even mentioned in the book

• There was a photo with Michael Phelps and his 8 gold medals, but no mention of any woman with multiple medals.

• There were tons of NBA stats - but nothing for women. Is there no WNBA player with stats on blocking, assists, free throws, 3 point percentage...nothing?

• There's a two page spread on the fastest men in the world, but nothing about women's track.

• There is many mentions of remarkable plays in men's sports, but not in women's. What about Kerri Strug - how many steps did she sprint on a badly sprained ankle to vault the women's gymnastics team to gold? 

Overall: I know this book will be popular - but I think it's giving teens the wrong view of sports. I just hope some of them look at it and ask where are all the women? 

It makes me want to write a book about women's sports.