A celebration of athletes, all of them women, in a book heavy on facts and firsts, and full of black-and-white photographs. Few people know that the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel was a woman; even fewer know that it was a female pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in one exhibition game in 1931. This riveting book is brimming with stories of such little-known heroines, but also includes dozens of larger-than-life, mostly 20th- century, sports figures: Billie Jean King, Wilma Rudolph, Babe Zaharias, Althea Gibson, Nancy Lopez, Susan Butcher, Martina Navratilova, and others. Macy (A Whole New Ball Game, 1993, etc.) makes clear that most of these women—if not all—faced the hostility and ridicule of the male sports establishment and the press. For example, John Tunis's false statements about the 1928 Olympics 800-meter women's run (``Below us on the cinder path were . . . wretched women, five of whom dropped out before the finish, while five collapsed after reaching the tape'') resulted in the IOC's vote in 1929 to eliminate women's track and field events from future Olympics competitions. The lively text, coupled with the photos, ads, trading cards, and other illustrations, is informative and commanding. (b&w photos, chronology, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: June 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8050-4147-8
Page Count: 217
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1996
Categories: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS
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Who is next in the ocean food chain? Pallotta has a surprising answer in this picture book glimpse of one curious boy. Danny, fascinated by plankton, takes his dory and rows out into the ocean, where he sees shrimp eating those plankton, fish sand eels eating shrimp, mackerel eating fish sand eels, bluefish chasing mackerel, tuna after bluefish, and killer whales after tuna. When an enormous humpbacked whale arrives on the scene, Danny’s dory tips over and he has to swim for a large rock or become—he worries’someone’s lunch. Surreal acrylic illustrations in vivid blues and red extend the story of a small boy, a small boat, and a vast ocean, in which the laws of the food chain are paramount. That the boy has been bathtub-bound during this entire imaginative foray doesn’t diminish the suspense, and the facts Pallotta presents are solidly researched. A charming fish tale about the one—the boy—that got away. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-075-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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Paisley McFarland is a freshman in high school who loves to sing but has horrible stage fright in this entry in a performing-arts themed series for reluctant readers.
When a local farm announces a talent show fundraiser, Paisley signs up to sing, but will she be able to pull it off? Like many young people, Paisley is also fighting her mother’s expectations of what she “should” be doing—in her case, singing classical choir pieces rather than pop music. Her best friend, Jasmeer Sharma-Smith, believes in her and convinces the famous actress and singer Maxine Gaston to coach Paisley and help with her performance anxiety. Her private lessons help give her the confidence to go onstage at the upcoming event, but Paisley also has to deal with bullying from Cadence Wang, another student singer. Much like in real life, the negative behavior is not neatly resolved. Paisley is implied white; diversity is indicated through characters’ names. In Offbeat by Megan Clendenan, Rose Callaghan is a Celtic fiddle player who hopes to win a folk festival competition in order to prove to her lawyer mother how serious she is about music she loves rather than the classical music her mother wants her to play. Things go awry when her special violin, left to her by her deceased father, breaks—will she still be able to perform well? The book follows a white default.
Appealing, accessible stories for teens interested in the arts that will tempt them to become avid readers. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1834-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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