An imperfect but valuable addition to sports-fiction collections for young readers.
A girl bucks tradition to play her favorite sport in Hoffman’s picture book.
Red-haired, pale-skinned elementary schooler Gabby loves American football. She wants to play on her own local team, but she can only watch from afar while others participate. Her brother tells her that only boys can play the sport, and her mom worries that she’ll get hurt. However, her dad encourages her to sign up for the local boys’ team: “You have big dreams,” he says. “You aren’t meant to sit on the sidelines. You were born to shine!” At Gabby’s first game, she’s the only girl on the team. This makes her nervous, but she does her best to overcome her anxiety by remembering her dad’s encouraging words. During the big game, she gets a chance to make a pivotal contribution to her team. This inspiring story for young feminists is Hoffman’s latest work after the second edition of The Self-Love Book (2023). Mello’s illustrations will sweep readers away as they break format conventions and splash across the page, and Hoffman’s writing matches their enthusiasm. However, the book could have included more of Gabby’s teammates’ reactions to her presence. Also, the big game seems to happen immediately without any practices first, which makes the timeline somewhat confusing.
An imperfect but valuable addition to sports-fiction collections for young readers.Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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