When I was a boy, sports were very important in our house. I had three older brothers, and they all played football and ran track. So I couldn’t wait to play sports, too.
I always tried hard in sports, and I did pretty well. But sometimes I tried too hard. Like Ben in the “Kickers” books, there were a few times where my temper got me in trouble. I had to learn that having fun was the most important thing about sports and games, whether you win or lose.
I was kind of small, so there were times that a football coach or a basketball coach decided that I wasn’t likely to be much help to the team, since size can make a difference in those sports. That just made me work harder. And later, when I found sports like track and cross-country, that hard work really paid off.
Rich and his wife, Sandra
I can remember being quite nervous about my first games of Little League baseball or junior basketball. I thought hard about that nervousness while I was writing the “Kickers” books, because I wanted Ben’s experiences in the books to be helpful to you readers. I hope that by sharing his wins and losses, you’ll learn some things that will boost your own enjoyment when you play.
I’ve included “Ben’s Top Tips for Soccer Players” at the end of each book.
Here are some of the tips from Book One: THE BALL HOGS:
Always warm up before a game or practice. Try some jogging and jumping jacks.
Work on keeping the ball close to your feet when you dribble. Don’t just kick it and chase it.
Be a supportive teammate. Say positive things and encourage everyone to work hard.
In Rich Wallace’s Kickers: Game Day Jitters, characters Ben, Loop, and their teams – the Bobcats and the Falcons – know, all too well, that soccer is a game of corners and angles. Be it a corner kick, penalty kick, or the nerve-raking confines of the goalie box, this fast moving game is defined by the perpendicular lines of the soccer field. In many ways, geometry is truly the name of the game.
January 2011. A shiny new month full of possibility. What better way to kick off the New Year than to feature a subject every kid knows something about: SPORTS.
Whether team or individual, sports are all around us. On the soccer field. In the street. On the baseball diamond. At the local pond, skating rink, pool, or tennis court. Virtually anywhere and everywhere children are found, they’re busy actively doing.
When it comes to sports, most kids have favorites – games they love to watch or play, teams they razz or cheer for, players they admire. This month, ReaderKidZ turn our attention to books about SPORTS and the people who play them.
Commitment. Dedication. Setting goals and working – hard – to achieve them. Participating in sports is all that and more. And even for the less than enthusiastic sports fans among us, reading about those who have or do play a sport opens a world of possibility, a world we can appreciate on the pages of a book.
Read more about Author-In-Residence, Rich Wallace HERE.
Read more about Author-In-Residence, Crystal Hubbard HERE.
Christmas. It’s a time of miracles. A time when winter storms rage outside, while indoors, families gather together to enjoy one another’s company in noisy reunions or quiet moments of reflection. It’s a time of peace, hope, love. And… not surprisingly… books, which have long been at the top of my own gift-giving and receiving lists.
As always, there are far too many wonderful choices to mention, but I’ve managed to narrow it down to a few. Some, favorites from years gone by, others, new finds for 2010.
I fell in love with Audrey Couloumbis’s first book, the Newbery Honor Getting Near to Baby, years ago, and her latest, JAKE, released just in time for the holidays, is a new favorite.
When his mother lands in the hospital with an injury days before Christmas, Jake finds himself in the care of a neighbor and the grandfather he knows only by way of the obligatory twice-yearly phone call.
An uplifting, “feel-good” story of family, friendship, and characters that grow to care for and understand – truly understand – one another, JAKE is about real relationships and the way a family pulls together in unexpected ways. Isn’t that part of what this season is all about?
For years, every time I shared a book by Cynthia Rylant, I would remind my class that she was my all-time favorite author. Few write as beautifully as Rylant.
Of course, these days, I have many favorite authors, but Rylant still amazes me. SILVER PACKAGES certainly ranks high on my list of holiday favorites. It’s also a book I can’t seem to read without choking up at the end.
This story is sure to remind us all of the ways a simple kindness can grow in unexpected and powerful directions.
I’m not sure how many readers have discovered this gem of a book, but CHRISTMAS AT STONY CREEK is like a timeless classic, a book to be enjoyed year after year, and passed down through the family. It’s the perfect read-aloud for one or many children snuggled up in a parent’s or grandparent’s cozy lap.
Pip, small and quiet, doesn’t feel very brave. The world outside her family’s mouse home seems large and scary. But Papa has always believed in Pip, and when the time comes that she must face her fears and the wintery dangers outside the cozy mouse hole in order to search out food for her hungry brothers and sisters, Pip remembers Papa’s words and finds the strength to do the extraordinary.
Filled with holiday activities, CHRISTMAS WITH THE MOUSEKINS is a mini make -‘n- take for the wee and not so small ones in your life. There are crafts, like “Mittens-in-a-Row” and “Momo’s Christmas Tree Hat,” recipes, such as “Cinnamon Snails” and “Gingerbread Mice,” sock puppet how-to’s, poems, stories, and more.
Celebrate the season with the Mousekin family and work you way through a lovely collection of holiday fun. I’ve already given this delightful book to several young children I know.
I think it was my grandmother who gave me THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL one long-ago Christmas. As a child, my takeaway was not the somber ending, but instead, the joyful memories the little girl saw in the light of her matches.
In some ways, GREAT JOY reminds me of The Little Match Girl. Maybe it’s the stunning illustrations by Ibatoulline and the image of the homeless man on the street corner tipping his hat towards the lighted window on a snowy night.
In this story, it’s an organ grinder who’s alone on the street late at night and a young girl who invites the man in from the cold. At the last minute, the man and his monkey do come and, at his appearance, young Frances, in her role as the angel in the church pageant, announces her “Great Joy.”
I first heard Marion read THE LONGEST NIGHT when I was a grad student at Vermont College. She shared several versions of the story with us along with this final, published version.
Though Marion has said she doesn’t consider herself a poet, this book is poetic prose at its finest. This beautiful story about the night, long and long, and sun, gone and gone, and the little chickadee who can’t climb or scoop, sniff or dig, but who sings – dee-dee-dee, and dee and dee, again – and wakes the sun so it begins its journey towards spring is one you’ll want to read over and over and over.
As Christmas draws near and 2010 comes to a close may you and yours enjoy the sweetness of one another’s company, the joy of the season, and above all, peace in the New Year.
I remember many a Christmas Day when, finished playing with his toys or puzzles or games, our son Oliver ended up curled up on the couch, reading a book he’d discovered under the tree.
When books are a part of every holiday, birthday, and celebration in a child’s life, they come to realize books mean excitement, pleasure, and anticipation. Lifelong readers are created that way.
There are other ways to create excitement about books. Give a child a bookcase so her books will have a home of their own. The first bookcase my husband built for Oliver had two shelves. Oliver painted it blue to match his blue bed. Later, my husband built him a taller bookcase. Here it is. The pride Oliver took in owning books is evident.
Don’t forget bookplates. Children love them. There’s something about writing your name on your own book plate and pasting it in a book that makes it yours. This is bookplate I found 30 years ago in a used copy of Little Lord Fauntleroy printed in 1926. I’ve grown very fond of the “Donald” who once owned it.
Anne Fine, the second Children’s Laureate of Great Britain, offers dozens of wonderful, free bookplates here – My Home Library: Bookplates. You can give them as presents to young readers. Use them as rewards for your students. Or let students print them in class and give them as presents, themselves.
As for my favorite books, I’m like most people – the minute someone asks me for a title, I draw a blank. There are too many to name. So here are a random few that are memorable to me because of way I’ve watched children respond to them, or because I feel they’re too often overlooked, or simply because I love them myself.
For boys and girls who like to know how to do things. SURVIVOR KID: A Practical Guide to Wilderness Survivalby Denise Long. There are many survival books for children, but this one has photographs. Photographs are good in non-fiction for children. Reading about how to build a fire or construct a shelter or navigate in the wilderness is exciting.
Or consider ANIMAL TRACKS AND SIGNS by Jinny Johnson. It has over 400 popular animals: their habits, tracks, and more. I talk to children during school visits about the amazing information they can glean by studying animal tracks. They’re always very interested. This book offers wonderful facts and photos. Plus that, it’ll get them outside.
Give them a book they might never consider unless you introduce them to it. It’s amazing, how many children like to read about the Greek gods. Heck, they were the original super heroes. My son was introduced to the classic D’AULAIRES BOOK OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY when he was in the 3rd grade. He has read and re-read that book countless times over the years.
I read C. S. Lewis’s THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE when I was nine. It wasn’t the fantasy world the children entered that has stayed with me. It was the initial idea: that maybe, if I pushed through the tangle of clothes to the back of the closet that I shared with my mother, I would suddenly find myself in a different world and there would be snow on the ground. I’ve never forgotten that feeling of revelation. Books should do that.
For upper middle grade girls, Hilary McKay’s three books about four English sisters are a must-read. THE EXILES, THE EXILES IN LOVE, and THE EXILES AT HOME. The sisters are funny and wise and the interactions between them are hilarious. McKay, who’s one of my favorite children’s book authors, was one of four sisters, herself. She knows what she’s doing. She also has several books about the Casson family that are as wonderful. Grades 3-5. Check them all out.
And last, a new book. MOCKINGBIRD by Kathryn Erskine. It just won the National Book Award. Caitlyn is in the fifth grade. She has Asperger’s Syndrome. The number of children today who are dealing with some form of autism is huge and increasing. I found this book a terrifically empathetic portrait of what it takes for one girl with Asperger’s to navigate her world. Friends who work with autistic children say it’s realistic. Give this book, create some empathy.
Give any book to a child this holiday season. Set them on the path to reading for life.
Happy holidays.
— Stephanie Greene
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
Dear Reader,
readers. I hope that by sharing his wins and losses, you’ll learn some things that will boost your own enjoyment when you play.
