The Editors of Sports Illustrated Kids

MY FIRST BOOK OF FOOTBALL by Beth Bugler and Mark Bechtel is a fun way to introduce buddying sports fans to the world of NFL football.

Published by Time Inc. Books and Sports Illustrated Kids, this colorful picture book will attract even the most reluctant reader. Following the four quarters of a game, the book features photographs of NFL players, coaches, and officials. Readers follow a young cartoon football player who follows the action and learns about the game.

From explaining basic show more vocabulary such as scrimmage to identifying the parts of the playing field, this well-designed book introduces and reinforces key concepts to young readers.

From the large font and speech bubbles to the bright colored background and action photos of players, children will be drawn into the informational narrative. A bit of humor enhances the appeal.

Librarians will find a large audience for this first book in the new A Rookie Book series. Although no female characters are represented, young sports fans aren’t likely to complain. However, librarians creating a sports display might want to seek out a companion book with a female character.

Published by Time Inc. Books and Sports Illustrated Kids in Fall 2015. ARC courtesy of publisher. show less

Well, that took long enough. I've long noticed that Sports Illustrated Kids books seem to mostly forget the existence of contemporary female athletes and that's been extremely obvious in their Rookie series. I've added review copies and purchased the ones I needed, but I have been extremely annoyed at the lack of women in the previous three titles on Hockey, Football, and Baseball. I hope that publisher will revise those previous titles to include women more equally (or at all).

The narrators show more are a confused (white) boy, who doesn't quite get the rules of soccer (or that most of the world calls it football) and a sparky, enthusiastic, dark-skinned girl. The book follows the format of the previous titles, explaining how the game works, the rules, functions of the players, scoring system, and a few traditions of the game. It's illustrated with pictures of real athletes, captioned with humorous dialogue, against a background of colorful pages. The big difference in this book is that a good half of the athletes pictured are women.

Verdict: These books are very popular and check out constantly, but this is the first one I'm actually happy to put on the shelf. Now, if the publisher just does the same thing with Basketball and goes back and fixes the previous books, I'll be buying extra copies asap.

ISBN: 9781683300021; Published by Sports Illustrated Kids/Capstone; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library show less

Ah, now this is a sport that makes sense. Only a few players, a simple goal, you whack each other in the wrong place you get into trouble. What could be simpler?

I'm not a sports fan. Clearly.

However, even I enjoy these simple explanations of popular sports, along with cartoons and jokes. Photographs of two teams, along with a cartoon player, walk the reader through the basics of hockey. The page backgrounds are brilliant colors and the book is divided into periods, instead of show more chapters.

Although there isn't a source or bibliography, this is so simple that there really isn't much need for one. There is a small ad for Sports Illustrated Kids magazine in the back.

Verdict: It's difficult to find books on sports for the very youngest of kids, and yet both they and their parents are often interested in this subject. This is a great series for little players and highly recommended, although I do hope the series will continue with women's teams at a later date.

ISBN: 978168931771; Published 2016 by Time Inc.; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library show less

Sports are really not my thing. I have a general idea how football, basketball, and soccer work - you're trying to get the ball into a goal. Simple. Baseball....I have never figured out how baseball works. It's so complicated!

However, most people who are not me like sports and it's difficult to find good factual, nonfiction sports books for young listeners and readers. I have gotten really good circulation out of the first book in this series, My First Book of Football, and was excited to show more see a baseball title.

Caricatures and sports figures with humorous notes fill the book, explaining the basics of the game, scoring, and players. The book is divided up into innings and carefully walks the reader through the movements of each play. Players from a variety of teams are pictured participating in the game. Terms like "bullpen", "strike zone", etc. are illustrated and defined through context. The page backgrounds are brightly covered in bold, primary colors.

Verdict: This is a must-have series for your young sports fans and, while I confess to still not seeing the point of baseball (so many rules! so complicated!) and wanting to see more girls/women represented, it's a nice starting point for anyone, child or adult, who wants to understand the basics of the game.

ISBN: 9781618931672; Published 2016 by Sports Illustrated Kids; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to library show less