Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More [Hardcover]

Jack Prelutsky (Author), Chris Raschka (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Exhilarating, all-new, kid-friendly rhymes capture the range of emotions, from winning to losing to the sheer joy of participating, that children experience as they discover the games of their choice. Jack Prelutsky, a virtuoso at making poetry fun for the elementary school crowd, includes in this inspired collection poems about baseball, soccer, football, skating, swimming, gymnastics, basketball, karate, and more. His signature lighthearted humor in verse that trips off the tongue is coupled here with the 2006 Caldecott Medal winner Chris Raschka's lickety-split, stylized (and stylish) watercolors. Every page is a blaze of color and motion. Whether Good Sports will create good sports remains to be seen, but it will prove to young boys (and girls) that reading poetry can be fun.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite Raschka's (The Hello, Goodbye Window) action-filled illustrations, this collection of sports poems lacks pizzazz. The untitled verses brim with fairly obvious sports commentator clichés. A basketball player hopes to "soar above the rim," and a runner "put[s] a burst of speed on." Conversely, one pair of poems humorously contrasts the highs and lows of life on the field: a football player scores a touchdown and says, "I love football. Football's fun," but on the opposite page, Raschka pictures the same player fumbling the ball under a heap of opponents: "I don't like this game,/ Not a bit, not at all." The quick-dash brushstrokes imitate the athletes' movements. A gymnast's elongated leg stretches over her body on the balance beam and emulates the girl moving from one position to another. A baseball heading for a determined hitter trails a streak of color like a comet in the sky. Simulating the stop-animation film seen in television coverage of the Olympics, eight progressive versions of a basketball player depict his eventual delight at dunking the ball. Poems about the same sport are not grouped together but sprinkled throughout the book, and the effect is akin to clicking a TV remote through the sports channels. Although the first-person poems narrated by young athletes may disappoint readers, Raschka's high-speed artwork offers a whirl of color and breathless activity. Ages 8-up (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 5—Prelutsky's gleeful verses team up with Raschka's economic, energetic, and humorous illustrations to create a winning book. Seventeen brief, untitled poems, mostly presented across eye-catching spreads, describe the experiences and emotions of young athletes as they participate in a variety of physical pursuits, including soccer, football, ice skating, and gymnastics. The narrators display varying levels of expertise, and although they may not excel at their endeavors, they are all at heart "good sports," dedicated to trying their best. A swimmer daydreams about being an orca and then good-naturedly admits, "I swim like a fish/That's been sick for a spell./I flop in the pool,/And I flounder around./My friends laugh and say/I should stay on the ground," before vowing to stick with the activity. The short, accessible verses are easy to memorize ("I'll swing at that ball,/And I'll smack it so hard,/I'll send that ball sailing/Clean out of the yard") and are perfect for classroom poem-a-day programs. They can also be used to introduce rhythm, rhyme scheme, punning, and alliteration. The expressive watercolors-with pen-and-ink lines adding a hint of definition-affectionately capture each character, depicting one youngster's chubby cheeks, another's curlicued hair, and another's hopeful eyes as he swings a bat at a ball. Readers will relate to and root for these children at play.—Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375837000
• ISBN-13: 978-0375837005
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 0.4 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,171,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun book!, December 12, 2007

By 

Sprout (PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More (Hardcover)

This is a great book! It's got fun rhymes about all different kinds of sports and games. I would recommend it for kids that are 4 or 5 and older, though -- my 3 year old has a hard time focusing on the art and following the rhymes. I'm sure he'll love it when he's a bit older, though.

5.0 out of 5 stars A teacher's idea, February 26, 2008

By 

Peggy Metzler (South Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More (Hardcover)

My grandson's first grade teacher wrote grandparents about her upcoming class instruction in poetry and asked if we would write a poem. While I did, I also went to Amazon to buy a book of appropriate poetry. This book more than fit my goal. Beautifully done.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun series of rhymes, June 10, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More (Hardcover)

Jack Prelutsky and Chris Raschka's GOOD SPORTS is by the nation's first poet laureate and provides a fun series of rhymes about jumping, running, and other sports. From Frisbee to volleyball, first-person accounts pair with vivid watercolors to capture the joy of sports.