Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers - from the trusted experts at the American Library Association

Cindy: If I say, “Board Book,” I’m guessing that you might think of yellow duckies and furry puppies. The last thing that might come to mind is a set of NHL© concept books that use the players and trappings of NHL© teams to teach colors and numbers and animals. Christopher Jordan’s set, My First NHL© Books (Tundra [...]

Lynn: I usually don’t think much about my age but while I certainly wasn’t around in 1896, the time of Basketball Belles:  How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player Put Women’s Hoops on the Map (Holiday 2011), I did play “Girl’s Basketball” rules in high school.  Girls were considered too delicate to do more than [...]

Cindy: I have to admit that when Lynn suggested Bird in a Box (Little, Brown 2011) for our blog schedule, I was less than enthusiastic. I’m not a boxing or fight fan of any sort and was not eager to read about the fascination with the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis. But to pass on this [...]

Cindy: With March Madness upon us, I was excited to find All Access: Your Behind-the-Scenes Pass to Sports, Stars, Locker Rooms, and More! (Time 2010) on display at my local public library. I knew I had to take it home when I flipped it open to find Shaquille O’Neal’s ginormous hand reproduced on a cellophane [...]

Cindy:  The full subtitle of Wheels of Change (National Geographic 2011) describes the book perfectly: “How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way).” There are no “flat tires” in the research, writing, and design of this thorough presentation of the bicycle’s importance to women in the late 1800s. [...]

Cindy: “Left is clear/Right is clear. The streets are not safe here.” Ajani and his friends keep a careful eye out for bullies who threaten their football game, but the game must go on in this moving picture book, Goal! (Candlewick, 2010). The boys are thrilled with Ajani’s new leather federation-size ball that he earned [...]

Cindy: Every April I lament the end of March Madness and my college basketball tv habit. It gives me more time to read again, but I miss the game. Do I have a treat for those of you in my hightop shoes! Losing Season (CavanKerry Press, 2009) is a collection of basketball poems by poet [...]

Lynn: Marcus Jordan, star quarterback of his previous team, is the new guy in town. To make things worse, the local football team was undefeated last year and no one sees any reason to change the starting line-up. Marcus makes the team but resigns himself to working hard and riding the bench for the year. [...]

Lynn: “You gotta be kidding! You never heard of Sandy Koufax?” says the unseen fan narrating this strikingly different picture book. Readers drawn to the “lenticular” cover (lenses creating the illusion of movement) will be fascinated by the story inside. The enigmatic Sandy Koufax was, arguably, the greatest left-handed pitcher ever to play the game. [...]

Lynn: We live on the Lake Michigan shore where winter starts in October, hangs on through April and where feet and feet of snow pile up. Our summers may be short but they are glorious! So I often find myself shopping for a new bathing suit, staring horrified at pale wobbly parts of my anatomy [...]