Tasty fare for readers inclined to hail the coming of soccer’s “Messi-ah.”
A fulsome tribute to the soccer superstar, with select career highlights.
In rapid montage style, sports presenter and writer Echegaray slips back and forth in time to trumpet Messi’s 2023 arrival in the U.S. and retrace his long, storied career from a first match at age five in his home city of Rosario, Argentina, until October, 2024, when he was playing for Inter Miami. The author slips in frequent asides on topics including Messi’s style of play, his charity work, appreciative comments from other soccer stars, and what it was like as a fan and journalist to interview him. The hero worship comes out as much in panegyrics on Messi’s character as in tallies of his on-pitch accomplishments. Along with repeatedly linking his subject to terms like humble and introvert, Echegaray holds him up as a role model: a hardworking immigrant who overcame a growth hormone deficiency in childhood and has made good with help from coaches and his devoted family. And lest any reader fail to draw proper lessons from his example, the author makes them explicit: “When you fail, that’s when you’re at your strongest because you have the chance to get up and try again. And that’s the true meaning of character.” Frequent on-field photos and flurries of specific match notes supply light doses of game action.
Tasty fare for readers inclined to hail the coming of soccer’s “Messi-ah.” (references, picture credits) (Biography. 12-16)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781836001201
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Holler/Quarto
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
Catnip for scandal junkies, with a bit of historical perspective stirred in.
A gleefully explicit catalogue of the past century’s headline-grabbing bad behavior.
Aimed at readers who don’t need to be told who Brangelina is but may be hazy on “twisted besties” Leopold and Loeb or even Monica Lewinsky, this edutaining survey presents a wide-angle array of murders, sexual follies, controversial trials, race violence, political corruption and general envelope-pushing from the 1906 killing of Stanford White on. Each of the chronologically arranged entries opens with a capsule “Scoop” followed by a slightly fuller account under a “What Went Down” header. Along with a small black-and-white photo and one or two sidebar quotes, the author tacks on subsequent developments, sometimes-perceptive suggestions about “Why We Still Care” and a short roster of similar incidents in recent history. Though she misspells “Symbionese” and repeatedly awards FDR only three Presidential wins, in general Fryd presents reasonably accurate summaries of events and issues while giving all sides of the more muddled conflicts at least a nod. Additional cred is provided by a teen panel of editorial advisors.
Catnip for scandal junkies, with a bit of historical perspective stirred in. (index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9827322-0-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Zest/Orange Avenue
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of all things martial will echo his “HOOYAH!”—but the troubled aftermath comes in for some attention too.
Abridged but not toned down, this young-readers version of an ex-SEAL sniper’s account (SEAL Team Six, 2011) of his training and combat experiences in Operation Desert Storm and the first Battle of Mogadishu makes colorful, often compelling reading.
“My experiences weren’t always enjoyable,” Wasdin writes, “but they were always adrenaline-filled!” Not to mention testosterone-fueled. He goes on to ascribe much of his innate toughness to being regularly beaten by his stepfather as a child and punctuates his passage through the notoriously hellacious SEAL training with frequent references to other trainees who fail or drop out. He tears into the Clinton administration (whose “support for our troops had sagged like a sack of turds”), indecisive commanders and corrupt Italian “allies” for making such a hash of the entire Somalian mission. In later chapters he retraces his long, difficult physical and emotional recovery from serious wounds received during the “Black Hawk Down” operation, his increasing focus on faith and family after divorce and remarriage and his second career as a chiropractor.
Fans of all things martial will echo his “HOOYAH!”—but the troubled aftermath comes in for some attention too. (acronym/ordinance glossary, adult level reading list) (Memoir. 12-14)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-250-01643-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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