PreS-Gr. 1. Smith, author of
Hoop Kings [BKL F 15 04] and other sports poetry for older readers, aims at a much younger audience with this hip-hop-style monologue: "I'm bored . . . take me out to play! / It's me, your basketball.
/ Let's have some fun today." In Widener's cartoon illustrations, the ball takes center stage, its promises of exciting twists and spins mapped out against a sunny suburban backdrop populated by a diverse trio of smiling young folk. Packaged with rounded corners and stiff pages for durability, this makes a strong, and possibly even persuasive, invitation to chair-bound children to get away from the TV or PC for some fresh air.
John PetersCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Charles R. Smith Jr. says that while growing up, he spent many hours reading anything he could get his hands on. "Reading books filled with stories and poems inspired me to write my own," he says. Charles R. Smith Jr. is the author of the rap-inspired HOOP QUEENS and HOOP KINGS and the author-illustrator of the American Library Association Notable Book RIMSHOTS: BASKETBALL PIX, ROLLS, AND RHYTHMS, among other titles.
Terry Widener spent many years as a graphic designer and another fourteen years as a commercial artist before illustrating his first children's book. Since then he has illustrated many picture books, including THE BABIE AND I and LOU GEHRIG: THE LUCKIEST MAN.
