Sports

Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn’t Sit Still by Karlin Gray, illustrated by Christine Davenier

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Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

 

Summary: Readers of a certain age will remember Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci,  one of the stars of the 1976 Summer Olympics. This picture book looks at Nadia’s life leading up to those Olympic performances. From an early age, Nadia was a daredevil, and her high energy level led her parents to enroll her in gymnastics. She was spotted by now-legendary coach Bela Karolyi who recruited Nadia to join the new gymnastics school he had opened with his wife Marta. Motivated by a disappointing performance at her first National Junior Championship, Nadia worked hard for many hours a day to make it to the Montreal Olympics when she was only 14. There she became the first female gymnast to earn a perfect 10…and went on to earn six more! The book ends there, but an afterword and timeline give more information about Nadia’s performance in the 1980 Olympics and her defection from Romania in 1989. 40 pages; Grades K-4.

Pros: An inspiring story of an amazing athlete, perfect for summer reading during this year’s Olympics. Nadia always seemed to me to be more serious than her predecessor Olga Korbut, but she comes across as ebullient and energetic in the illustrations here.

Cons: Because of the brevity of the story, making it to the Olympics comes across as about as difficult as snagging a spot on the high school gymnastics team.

Rising Above: How 11 Athletes Overcame Challenges to Become Stars by Gregory Zuckerman with Elijah and Gabriel Zuckerman

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Published by Philomel Books 

Summary:  11 athletes in different sports are profiled.  Each one had a very difficult childhood.  Tim Howard was diagnosed with OCD and Tourette’s at age 10; Dwayne Wade grew up in poverty with a drug-addicted mother; coach Jacques Demers was so traumatized by his abusive father that he never learned to read or write.  Yet each one made a decision at some point to work hard and stay positive, and this led to a successful and lucrative sports career.  An afterword explains how the author came to write the book, inspired and assisted by his two sons.  256 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  The stories are fast-paced and fun to read, as well as extremely inspiring.  The trials that each athlete faced are pretty severe, yet their positive attitudes and hard work are the common threads running through each narrative.

Cons:  Only one woman was profiled, Althea Gibson whose career was in the 1950’s, unlike the more contemporary male athletes.  Also, there were no pictures.

The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson

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Published by Scholastic Press 

Summary:  Eight-year-old Stephen Satlow is beyond excited when he learns that Jackie Robinson and his family are moving into the house down the street.  As a huge Dodgers fan living in Brooklyn, he can’t believe that one of the most famous members of the team is his new neighbor.  Although there is a bit of resistance to the integration of Stephen’s mostly Jewish community, the Robinsons are welcomed by most of the families on Stephen’s street, and the Satlows and Robinsons soon become good friends.  Written by Jackie Robinson’s daughter and based on a true story, this book includes an afterword about the two families’ friendships and several photos of the main characters from the story.  208 pages; grades 3-6.

Pros:  A quick and engaging read about a true baseball fan, as well as a fun look back at post-World War II Brooklyn.

Cons:  Jackie Robinson comes across as a bit preachy, spouting words of wisdom almost every time he and Stephen have a conversation.

Booked by Kwame Alexander

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Published by HMH Books for Young Readers 

Summary:  Seventh-grader Nick loves soccer.  It’s the only thing that keeps him happy when his parents split up and a couple of bullies steal his bike.  It’s a dream come true when his team gets invited to the youth soccer tournament Dallas Cup, but in a final game before they go, Nick is sidelined by both injury and illness.  While recuperating in the hospital, he comes to value his friends Coby and April, the quirky but caring librarian from his school, and most of all, his parents, imperfect though they may be.  By the end of the book, Nick and his family are moving toward a new normal and learning to appreciate and accept each other.  320 pages; grades 6-10.

Pros:  This book in verse looks like a sequel to Kwame Alexander’s Newbery Award-winning The Crossover, but it’s a whole new cast of characters and story.  The short poems and engaging story make the 320 pages fly by. It’s likely to have great appeal for reluctant middle school readers, boys and girls alike.

Cons:  The story, and especially the language, isn’t as sparkling as The Crossover.

Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber by Sue Macy, illustrated by C. F. Payne

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Published by Simon and Schuster

 

Summary:  Mary Garber was considered a bit of a tomboy growing up in North Carolina.  She played tackle football on the boys’ team and loved going to football games with her father.  After college, she knew she wanted to be a reporter, but her first job on the society page didn’t exactly suit her.  During World War II, most sports writers went to war, so Mary got to fill in, a job she continued for the next forty years.  Not only did she blaze trails for women sportswriters, but she was among the first to report on African American teams and players, most famously Jackie Robinson.  If a kid tried hard, Miss Mary would report his or her achievements in a positive way, resulting in adults who sometimes thanked her for her coverage many years later.  As the author notes at the end, “Mary Garber didn’t set out to change the world, but change it she did.”  End matter includes author’s note, a timeline, and additional resources.  40 pages; grades 1-4.

Pros:  A lively biography of a little-known woman who followed her passion and opened doors for others as she went.  The slightly goofy illustrations lend a light-hearted feel to the text.

Cons:  Mary looks pretty much exactly the same in the illustrations from childhood through retirement.

The Wildest Race Ever: The Story of the 1904 Olympic Marathon by Meghan McCarthy

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Published by Simon and Schuster 

Summary:  How times have changed.  Back when the 1904 Olympic marathon was held, it was part of the World’s Fair in St. Louis.  41  men signed up to participate, but on race day, only 32 showed up.  The course washed out several days before the event, so a new course was mapped, much hillier than the original.  One of the participants was chased off the road by a dog; another kept stopping for snack breaks along the way; a third struggled when his trainer fed him strychnine mixed with an egg white to keep up his energy.  Despite the 90-degree heat, there were only two water stops, and some of the water was contaminated, forcing more than one man to drop out due to stomach issues.  One racer jumped into a car for several miles, then tried to pass himself off as the winner by running the last bit of the race.  In the end, Thomas Hicks, the American guy who consumed strychnine, managed to stumble across the finish line as the first legitimate winner.  End matter includes additional information about the race and a few of the racers, plus a bibliography.

Pros:  Lots of laughs reading about a race that resembled “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”.  Kids will enjoy comparing and contrasting the 1904 marathon with today’s Olympics.  Meghan McCarthy’s pop-eyed cartoon illustrations add a great deal of fun to the story.

Cons:  The cast of characters was a little large to keep track of in a picture book.  I had to keep referring back to a two-page spread at the beginning that profiled the main runners.

Soar by Joan Bauer

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Published by Viking Books for Young Readers

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2meh6h7BaE

 

Summary:  Jeremiah has been through more than his share of difficulties, starting when he was abandoned by his mother at the age of nine months and continuing through a series of heart problems that ultimately resulted in a transplant.  Lucky for him, his mother left him in an office building where he was discovered by nerdy but loving Walter, who adopted him and has been by his side ever since.  Jeremiah’s greatest love is baseball, but his heart hasn’t gotten healthy enough for him to play.  When Walter and Jeremiah move to Hillcrest, Ohio, they look forward to cheering on the town’s championship baseball team.  Within days of their arrival, though, scandal has swept through the town, shutting down the team.  When Jeremiah discovers a few kids at his middle school who still love to play, he gets the idea to become their coach.  Step by inching step, the kids work together to build a middle school team and to repair the damage done to Hillcrest.  With Jeremiah leading them on, the Hillcrest Eagles prove there’s more than one way to have a winning team, and that talent isn’t nearly as important as heart.  304 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  “You’re weird…but I like you,” says one of Jeremiah’s teammates, perfectly capturing Jeremiah’s voice as he narrates this story.  Quirky, humorous, and refusing to be kept down, Jeremiah gives the people of Hillcrest and the readers of Soar plenty to cheer about.

Cons:  Occasionally Jeremiah seems a bit unbelievably wise and mature for a sixth-grader.

 

Game Changer: John McLendon and the Secret Game by John Coy, illustrated by Randy DuBurke

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Published by Carolrhoda 

Summary: In 1944, two college basketball teams met for a secret game. The men from Duke University Medical School knew they were playing a game, but had no idea until they arrived, that they were playing an African American team at the North Carolina College of Negroes.  Coach John McLendon had arranged the game, even though he knew he could face death if the local Ku Klux Klan got wind of his actions.  The game started slowly, but pretty soon McClendon’s team started to dominate.  The final score was 88-44, North Carolina College of Negroes.  The teams then mixed it up to make things more even, playing shirts versus skins.  Afterwards, the Duke team members visited the other team’s dorm and sat around talking basketball.  For years, no one ever knew about the game for fear of reprisals.  John McLendon went on to win three national titles at Tennessee State, and was the first African American coach inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. 32 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  A fascinating and powerful story about one man’s contributions toward ending racism and promoting greater understanding.  The illustrations have plenty of great basketball action and grow more colorful as the story unfolds.

Cons:  The less colorful illustrations on the first several pages, combined with the typewriter-like font, had an unappealing look.  The second half of the book was better visually.

The Boys in the Boat: The True Story of an American Team’s Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics (Young Readers’ Edition) by Daniel James Brown, adapted for young readers by Gregory Mone

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Published by Viking 

Summary:  How did a state university rowing team composed of the sons of poor farmers and lumberjacks beat not only the elite Ivy League, but every team at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin?  Here’s the story, beginning with their first day of freshman year.  For Joe Rantz, one of the team members, the story goes back even further, to his impoverished childhood and repeated abandonment by his father and stepmother.  Left completely on his own at the age of 15, he had to overcome deep-seated fears to learn to trust his teammates and work together with the seven other boys in the boat.  A timeline and a description of “the art of rowing” are included at the end.  Grades 4-8.

Pros:  Joe’s story is inspiring, as is the gold-medal race, in which the U.S. team was given a disadvantageous placement by the Germans, and had to row with one of their key members gravely ill.  Sports fans will enjoy learning what it took for this ragtag team to become champions.

Cons:  It would have been nice to get a little more background on some of Joe’s teammates.

Breaking the Ice by Gail Nall

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Published by Aladdin

Summary: When shy Kaitlin has an uncharacteristic temper tantrum at an ice skating competition, she finds herself banned from her own skating club and most of the other clubs in the area.  The only place that will take her is the run-down Falton “Fall Down” Club, but Kaitlin is desperate enough to follow her Olympic dream to try it.  Despite the bumpy ice, ancient Zamboni, and eccentric coaches, she finds herself making new friends and learning a whole new way of skating.  Greg, her new coach, encourages her to express herself through her skating, which just confuses Kaitlin.  Braedon, the cute ne’er-do-well of the club, encourages her to skip classes and pull pranks that she’s sure will get her in trouble.  Kaitlin and her friends end up at Regionals, where a secret party almost gets Kaitlin kicked out of the competition.  Will she be able to put her new experiences into skating a winning program?  Grades 4-7.

Pros:  Middle grade readers will root for Kaitlin to come out of her shell while enjoying a great sports story.

Cons:  The stock middle school characters (loyal best friend, potential crush, misunderstood mean girl) are not particularly original.