Red card it.
Bellos and Lyttleton team up to create the ultimate school, one in which every subject from biology to zoology is focused through the world of soccer.
The premise is an interesting one, and the book begins successfully enough with biology, where readers learn about the importance of a soccer player’s diet as well as gain a cursory understanding of the digestive system. Each chapter is similarly themed—with varying levels of success—and readers learn about different subjects while picking up facts and trivia about international teams. Each chapter begins with a cartoon rendering of the authors and a few puns and ends with an equally punny player’s card for the star student in the class and a quiz. For instance, Tulip Feaver is star student of philosophy class, where readers learn about famous Dutch coaches Marinus Michels and Johan Cruyff and how their strategies changed international play. While the player’s cards are amusing and offer a variety of genders and a bit of ethnic diversity, the quizzes are less successful. The questions asked frequently have nothing to do with the preceding chapter and vary between those that are specific to soccer and general knowledge. This may be the most frustrating aspect of the book; how do you become a star student if the instructors are quizzing you on things you’ve never been taught?
Red card it. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0435-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.
Basketball-playing twins find challenges to their relationship on and off the court as they cope with changes in their lives.
Josh Bell and his twin, Jordan, aka JB, are stars of their school basketball team. They are also successful students, since their educator mother will stand for nothing else. As the two middle schoolers move to a successful season, readers can see their differences despite the sibling connection. After all, Josh has dreadlocks and is quiet on court, and JB is bald and a trash talker. Their love of the sport comes from their father, who had also excelled in the game, though his championship was achieved overseas. Now, however, he does not have a job and seems to have health problems the parents do not fully divulge to the boys. The twins experience their first major rift when JB is attracted to a new girl in their school, and Josh finds himself without his brother. This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells. While Josh relates the story, readers get a full picture of major and minor players. The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story.
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch. (Verse fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-10771-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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