You might have called it a Spaldeen. You might have called it a pinky. Whatever its name, the pink rubber ball with the big bounce meant hours and hours of neighborhood fun. And in the fifth title that celebrates classic American games, the rubber ball is back-and bouncier than ever. Packaged with its own pinky, which begs to be played with the minute it's out of the box, The Pinky Ball Book & The Pinky Ball begins with the story of the little tennis ball that couldn't-pinkies were originally the naked insides of tennis balls considered not up to par and sold to city kids for 15 cents. It covers the lingo: roofer, chips, chops, Hindu, ham and eggs, skimming, and scroogie. The techniques: how to throw a fastball, slider, knuckler, and fluke; how to tape a broomstick for a simple bat without splinters; how to hit the ball with your hand, including zappers, slams, and slices. And then the games. Bouncing games: Tennessee, 1,2,3 O'Kerry, A My Name Is Alice, Act It Out. Catching games: Trigon, Hot Potato, Monkey in the Middle. Off the Wall games: Mimsy, Russian Seven, Handball, Kings. And the most classic of all, the street games: Stickball, Slapball, Hit the Penny, Spud, Flies Up, and I Declare War.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
A Pinky Ball is the rubber interior of a tennis ball, and was originally introduced to kids in the 1940s as rejects from tennis ball factories. They became quite popular as kids enjoyed creating games using these high-bouncing balls. The Pinky Ball Book includes a new Pinky Ball and a pocket-sized paperback book filled with facts and games about balls, and Pinky Balls in particular. There's an interesting history of the origins of ball playing and making, a chapter about all the lingo that goes with ball playing, basic ball skills and rules, and five chapters describing ball games to play with yourself or with friends. The author has included an index of all games and the word 'ball' in twenty languages. Black-and-white photos and drawings accompany the text. A perfect birthday party gift for male or female. (Children's Literature - Meredith Kiger )
From the Publisher
Classic Games Series Packaged with the only other equipment a child would need--the jump rope, the marbles, the yo-yo--here is a series steeped in the know-how, culture, lore, and trivia of these simple, easy-to-learn play-anywhere games. Other titles in this series celebrating the great American games of childhood: THE YO-YO BOOK & THE YO-YO, the definitive guide to the yo-yo along with a hardwood yo-yo on a fiber cotton string, THE JUMP ROPE BOOK & THE JUMP ROPE, a complete skipper's reference along with a seven-foot rope, and THE MARBLE BOOK & THE MARBLES, complete with 30 marbles, two shooters, and lots of fun ideas.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Spaldeen 101,
By
This review is from: The Pinky Ball Book & the Pinky Ball (Ages 5-Up) (Paperback)
It's hard to fault a book that includes a spaldeen with it. Yes, a spaldeen--that's the canonically correct term for the pink rubber ball that is supplied with and described by this book. Obviously, the publisher wanted to avoid the sticky situation of the ball's true name, a corruption of the manufacturer's name, Spalding. No self-respecting New York kid would ever call it a pinky ball.Despite the book's heavy dose of political correctness and Y2K-esque paranoia (basically, it advises kids not to do anything dangerous, which seems to extend to bouncing the ball near a street), this is a great little tome. There's lots of games described for kids to learn, and even a brief history of the ball--the spaldeen is correctly presented as the ultimate evolution of ball technology, which started with ancient Egyptians kid playing with mud they'd roll up into balls.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Spaldeen",
By Joe NYC "Joe NYC" (RegoPark, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Pinky Ball Book & the Pinky Ball (Ages 5-Up) (Paperback)
Skullyplayer is absolutly correct. No self respecting Brooklynite whould ever, or ever did at least not in Greenpoint Brooklyn, where I grew up, call it a "Pinky". The guys wouldn't be caught dead using the term pinky. We called it a "Spaldeen". We played Ace, King, Queen,; Boxball; off the point, Stoop ball... etc. Those were the days. We would literally spend an entire summer afternoon playing Chinesse Handball on Bedford Ave, next to the soad fountain store. That was in the late 70's very early 80's.. I feel that was right on the tail end of the street game era. We also played Johnny on the Pony, and scelzeesc (I prob butchered the spelling of that one).
Memories.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Moments of My Childhood,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Pinky Ball Book & the Pinky Ball (Ages 5-Up) (Paperback)
Hold this book in your hand and, if you're like me, it will evoke some pretty powerful memories of childhood. Not only is it chock-full of the games we Brooklyn girls used to play with our beloved Spaldeens (as well as the ones we were only allowed to watch the boys play) but it also comes with a real live Spaldeen (okay, so it's called a Pinky Ball). There are games I remember playing, like "A, My Name is Alice" and "Hit the Penny," games I don't remember, like "Four Square," and lots of games I knew by other names - regional variants, I guess. Anastasio has done a wonderful job of digging up a zillion games, as well as history, special Spaldeen techniques, and safety tips for the modern world, which is less inclined to make way for kids playing in the street. A comprehensive, well-written treat to read!
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