I never understood the power of sports until I moved to the Triangle where basketball reigns and team allegiance dominates. Children, less book motivated, can find sport books that prove that reading rules!
Love the drama of the ballpark? You can play sports announcer as you read Dale Gottlieb's Bottom of the Ninth: A Pop-up Book (Kingfisher, $8.95; ages 5 to adult). The book is studded with baseball terms, written with the kind of excitement that could only be matched by bottom of the ninth tension, and has pop-up surprises that will make you laugh. Canfield's nervous at bat, Rivera sweats it out on the mound while readers hold their breaths! This book is a promised home-run hit!
Scholastic has a whole series of basketball books that will score big points with reticent readers. Each book is filled with color action photos of players, the kind of information young fans want to read about,with an emphasis on action and stars rather than words! There are books for all ages. For the youngest there's NBA Action from A to Z (Scholastic, $3.50; ages 4-6) which covers basketball from action to "Zo"(Alonzo Mourning's nickname). Bruce Brooks' NBA by the Numbers (Scholastic, $10.95; ages 7 and up) counts up the moves and players from trick passers to slamin' dunkers. The new series Fast Breaks hosts two novellas Rising Stars of the NBA and The Jason Kidd Story (both $3.50) There are six foot posters, facts, stats and star players in Slam Dunk Champions and NBA Megastars (both $7.99). Those who are lacking in academics, but gifted in sports may benefit from the NBA Slam & Jam Skills books, designed to improve math, reading and map skills. There's even The Ultimate NBA Postcard Book ($7.99) with thirty postcards to inspire writing.
Sport story collections are a sure hit.For baseball fans, there's The Good Guys of Baseball: Sixteen True Sports Stories (Simon and Schuster, $24.50; ages 8-12) The sixteen players include Cal Ripkin and Manny Ramirez who are lauded not only for athletic prowess, but the traits like hard work, honor, courage and humor. And Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt contribute a fourth book to their biography series, Lives of the Athletes: Thrills, Spills (And What the Neighbors Thought) (HBJ, $19.00; ages 8-12). Krull catches the spirit of athletic heroism while Hewitt brings fun into play with her silly caricatures of sports stars.
David Adler's Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man (HBJ, $15.00; ages 4-9) tells the story of the amazing Yankee whose stamina, courage, and humility on the ball field was equaled by the way he lived his life. Illustrations by Terry Widner capture excitement of the game and the power of a man who refuses to see terminal illness as a defeat.
If there's one sports writer's name to remember in children's books, it's Matt Christoper. He has quite a few titles for his fans. For first chapter book readers, there's Straner in Right Field ($18.95; ages 7-9) and new in paperback is All-Star Fever ( $3.95) Two sports novels for middle grade readers are available in paperback, Double Play at Short and Baseball Turnaround ($3.95; ages 8-12) Christopher adds to his sports biography series with On the Mound with...Greg Maddox, At the plate with Ken Griffey Jr., On the court with Andre Agassi and At the Plate with Mo Vaughn (all books $4.50; ages 8-12). All books are published by Little Brown.
Often books with sports themes can be a vehicle to deeper emotions. This is certainly true of Marie Lee's Necessary Roughness (HarperCollins, $14.95; ages 12 and up). Popular Chan has grown up in an Asian- American community and has all kinds of people because of his soccer gifts. Moved to Minnesota, Chan faces a hostile world where nobody's ever seen an Asian-American family, or played soccer, or had to work in the family business. His twin sister seems the only one who understands when tension increases as he opposes his father's traditional Korean standards and the prejudice of members of his football team. This is an incredibly layered novel which manages to look at the complexities of coming of age, move along at a fast clip with moods that vary from funny to painful.
Being more of a literary than sports fan, until recently I saw hooking reluctant readers as the driving force behind children's sports books. In the last year, I've discovered a number of sports books with soul. These new books have established a field where my reluctant reading son and his reluctant athlete mom can play.
In terms of spirit, there are two excellent new versions of the dynamic Take Me Out to The Ballgame. Illustrator Alec Gillman creates a realistic backdrop of the 1947 Brooklyn World Series to memorialize the sentiment of Jack Norworth's original lyrics. (Ages 2-6; Four Winds, $14.95) The second Take Me Out to The Ballgame, by Maryann Kovalski, imbeds the song through an adventure of a baseball loving grandma and two kids. The hilarity of fiction dramatizes the words of the song, climaxing as the devoted grandma, chases down a balloon, catches a fly ball, and becomes team hero! (Ages 3-7; Scholastic, $14.95)
Random House hooks beginning readers with two appealing sports books for six to tens. Jim O'Connor's Comeback! Four True Stories tells of four athletes who gutted out disappointments to reach their successes. For baseball fans there's S. A. Kramer's Baseball's Greatest Pitchers. (both $3.50)
Creative Education has entered every field of sports with close-up looks at favorite teams in basketball, baseball, football, and hockey. Each thirty-two paged book is packed with action, full-spreads of color, and words that describe the players, history, and important moments of over seventy teams. ($14.95 each) Creative Education also highlights twenty-one "Great Moments in Sports" (like The Winter Olympics) with the same colorful action-filled coverage. ($14.95 each) Their new imprint, Creative Addition, updates every NBA team and offers paperback ($5.95) as well the hardcover versions.
In terms of agony and ecstasy, there are books to speak to both ends. Dan Gutman's Baseball's Biggest Bloopers relates stories in a play-by-play style, including trivia, stats, and showing how players survived their errors. (Ages 8-15; Viking, $13.99) In contrast, The Greatest Sports Stories Ever Told is the third book written by the team of Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo. Their stories come from all sports, sexes, and situations...all of them almost unbelievable! (Ages 8-14; Little Simon, $8.95)
The first book that led me to understand the soul side of sports was The Macmillan Book of Baseball Stories by Egan, Friedmann, and Levin. The young, the unfamiliar, and the devoted will be able the glimpse what drives the game--the dedication, teamwork, frustrations, and joys. Through each story the authors show the human spirit, compassion and connection that elevate baseball to a symbol and the people who make it happen shimmer with the magic. (Ages 5 and up; Macmillan, $14.95)
Teammates by Peter Golenbock is the true story of Jackie Robinson and "Pee Wee" Reese. At the time of baseball's integration, Jackie Robinson was chosen by Dodger manager, Branch Rickey, to break the color line. Robinson proved his dedication and faced shame and humiliation time and again until Reese stood beside him and declared him "teammate." History, sports, and social issue combined in this satisfying picture book. (Ages 5-10; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, $4.95)
Older readers who want to explore the inequalities of baseball may want to read Sue Macy's A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (Ages 9 and up; Holt, $14.95) or Michael L. Cooper's Playing America's Game: The Story of the Negro League Baseball (Ages 9 and up; Lodestar, $15.99) Prejudice forms the emotional setting for Ken Mochizuki's Baseball Saved Us. The physical and psychological descriptions, delivered in child viewpoint, give a strong feeling for an historical event that surprises most children and shames many adults. The story begins in a California internment camp during World War II . Events of the war flit in and out of the story's foreground. A loving father responds to the desolate desert by organizing the industry and creativity of many to build a baseball field. The field brings frustration to the small hero who is teased by family and friends about his poor hitting. It's the cold eye of the man in the guard tower and later the cruelty of of a crowd that incites and inspires the small Japanese boy to change prejudice and racial hatred into a constructive anger that earns him the respect and honor of his teammates. Illustrations by Dom Lee match the story's power with their dramatic monochromes. (Ages 6 and up; Low and Lee, $14.95)
I know something my son doesn't yet know. Another field of understanding waits for us because I love the sports idiom in young adult fiction.
Bruce Brooks is one of the strongest voices for this kind of fiction. To me the strongest section of his Newbery honor book What Hearts is entitled "Out". In it the hero Asa and his abusive stepfather dance an almost choreographed ballet of non-relating and power seeking through the medium of sports. The writing is spare and the tension winds tighter and tighter until it comes to a realistic non-resolution. (Ages 12 and up; HarperCollins, $14.00)
And what of sport's heroines? One of my favorites is Tessa Duder's swimmer Alex Archer. Alex in Rome is the sequel to her amazing first novel, In Lane Three, Alex Archer. In this book Alex's swimming prowess and persistence allow her to attend the Rome Olympics. We are once again treated to visions of Alex's determination, innocence, wonderment, and unconscious grace and style. (both from Houghton Mifflin, $13.95)
My son challenges me to play as often as I challenge him to read. One place we can meet is playful books. Mario Mariotti, of hand puppet fame, turns his talents to athletic representation in Hand Games where runners to divers to wrestlers. (all ages, Kane Miller, $11.95).
I can meet his enthusiasm in Klutz' TableTop Football. The writing is as funny as ever and they even include a leather table football (instead of "a cheesy homemade football"). My son may trounce me, in terms of laughter...it's a tie score! (Klutz Press, $8.95)