Successfully utilizes poetry to illuminate athletic excellence.
Twenty-one poets celebrate the achievements of 20 contemporary athletes.
The 10 men and 10 women spotlighted here excel across sports, from baseball, football, and soccer to basketball, tennis, gymnastics, and more. The poets each begin with a boldly declarative title, praising their subjects for their ability to triumph over childhood challenges and to withstand the intense pressures of competition, as well as for their humanitarian work. In “Naomi Osaka Takes a Breath,” Anita Yasuda threads the tennis star’s accomplishments with her boundary-breaking decision to temporarily step away to seek help for depression and practice self-care. “She is more / than chasing / racing after titles, / because she’s willing / to say, no more.” Accompanying each poem is a quote from the athlete, an action photograph, and a sidebar with a thumbnail biography. Athletes and poets alike represent a broad array of cultures, races, and backgrounds. Suni Lee is the first Hmong American Olympian gymnast. Chargers’ wide receiver Keenan Allen endured a litany of derailing injuries, bouncing back after rehabilitation. Some athletes are immigrants to the U.S.; others play for their home countries, like Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi. At 12, swimmer Jessica Long became the youngest Paralympic competitor. Sarah Grace Tuttle marvels, “Water welcomes you / to celebrate your strengths.” A theme that emerges throughout this wholly edifying and well-composed work: the support of parents for their youngsters’ dreams.
Successfully utilizes poetry to illuminate athletic excellence. (about the poets, source notes, about the poetry, photo credits) (Collective biography/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9798765667996
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.
Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.
Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-362-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
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