Scieskca, Jon, ed. Guys Read: The Sports Pages.10 July 2012, Walden Pond Press.
How many people would pay big bucks to see a Super 8 film of Jon Scieszka doing Frisbee Butt Waterskiing as a child? I know I would! In his forward, Mr. Scieszka does an excellent job of explaining why guys are so obsessed with sports, but how even the most active sports players don't necessarily like to read about sports. So true. Luckily, the guys in my school LOVE that there is a growing Guys Read Library for them, and The Sports Pages will be popular.
Aside from the informative forward, we have the story of why Dan Gutman was instrumental in the 1986 Mets win (I have that kind of power over the universe as well), a more serious Time Green football tale, an odd story of personal identity in middle school as it ties into sports ability by Anne Ursu, personal narratives from Dustin Brown, a hockey player, and James Brown, who must have been a fairly famous basketball player in the 1960s. Rounding out the collection were a good wrestling story by Joseph Bruchac, a running tale from Jacqueline Woodson, blank pages in the ARC where a Chris Crutcher story will be, and funny turns from Gordon Korman and "I Will Destroy You, Derek Jeter" from relative newcomer and excellent guy tale teller Chris Rylander.
Strengths: Nice selection of stories, some funny, some serious, and on a variety of sports. Could have used a lacrosse or hockey one, but I will not complain.
Weaknesses: I wish that there had been short biographies of all of the writers at the back, and perhaps a bibliography so that boys who read this have some direction when it comes to choosing their next book.
I quite enjoy the Guys Read books. So do our kids. I thought the Funny Pages one was better than the Thriller one (which is not to say it was bad). Curious to see this one and I agree with your "weaknesses" thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWe have a pretty decent Guys Read program going in the library. Hopefully it will continue in the 12-13 year!