May be of interest to football fans now but is superficial and certain to date quickly.
Profiles of six young quarterbacks with dazzling skills and promising futures.
Roland’s roster includes one biracial, two white, and three Black elite young arrivals—Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Brock Purdy, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, and C.J. Stroud—who played for teams all over the United States. Unfortunately, he expends so little effort differentiating his chosen players that their distinctive talents or styles of play, not to mention lengthy strings of feats, statistics, and awards, all tend to blend together. Their backgrounds are dispensed with in a few lines: They were coached or loyally supported by parents, excelled in multiple sports in high school, went on to winning careers in college football while posting record-breaking statistics, and then were drafted into the NFL, where they quickly became starters and have set or challenged more records, all while leading their teams to big post-season games. Aside from Stroud, Houston’s “humble young leader,” the child of a minister who has been incarcerated for many years, their stories are told in ways that make them sound alike. Other than Mahomes and Jackson, whose NFL debuts came in 2018, none of them have played long enough to demonstrate consistent star quality. The young men’s off-field causes and activities are largely addressed in text boxes. Roland barely acknowledges significant losses and season-ending injuries and confines direct quotes to bland sound bites and platitudes. The photos are sparse and only occasionally depict game action.
May be of interest to football fans now but is superficial and certain to date quickly. (picture credits, source notes, for further research, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781678208127
Page Count: 64
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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