Common Sense Media Review
Great pics elevate poems for sports lovers.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
This collection of poems captures the thrill, fun, and even the boredom of various sports.
Is It Any Good?
You don't have to love poetry to love this rollicking collection of sports poems. Kids who may think poetry is a pretty stodgy art form best left to their elders get a chance to see all that words can do. Kids will identify with the athletes, including star players and those who are just happy to be playing -- like the swimmer who swims "like a fish / That's been sick for a spell." These are kids who play for the love of the game and their enthusiasm, caught in Jack Prelutsky's adept rhymes, will inspire the same in readers.
Chris Raschka's watercolor-and-ink illustrations loop, leap, and fly about with his signature high-energy style. He does a remarkable job of creating vibrancy and action in a static medium and it's his pictures that make the book stand out.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about action words. They can collect the verbs in the book and use them to describe their own favorite exercise activities. Or they can act them out. Duck, dodge, slip, twist -- how does it feel to do them? Do the poems capture the action of real sports play? Then families can use those verbs to create their own poems, or they can get out art supplies and draw the actions.
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Chris Raschka
- Genre : Poetry
- Book type : Non-Fiction
- Publisher : Knopf
- Publication date : March 13, 2007
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 4 - 7
- Number of pages : 40
- Last updated : July 12, 2017
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate