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SPORTS FICTION
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From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 07:30:12 -0600
I am really enjoying this discussion! The children in my second grade class love books about sports, but I must agree with Marc that they are drawn to nonfiction. I also agree that the "real" stories are exciting and gripping all by themselves. I DO have some children who fall in love with Matt Christopher or the Angel Park All-Stars, but the nonfiction books are clearly more popular. Biographies of popular sports figures are always a hit... at least while the subject is in the public eye.
A few titles that are beloved by my children are: Teammates by Peter Golenbock and Paul Bacon (about the relationship between PeeWee Reese and Jackie Robinson), Home Run by Robert Burleigh and Mike Wimmer (about Babe Ruth), Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull and David Diaz (about local and international heroine Wilma Rudolph), Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki and Dom Lee (about baseball in the Japanese internment camps) Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer and Patricia Polacco
Robin Smith Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee
-----Original Message---- From: Brenda_Bowen at prenhall.com
[SMTP:Brenda_Bowen at prenhall.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 1999 10:04 PM
To: ccbc-net at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu
Subject: SPORTS FICTION
Here's a question to get the conversation going:
There is an accepted convention among publishers that kids who play
sports don't want to *read about* kids who play sports: They want to
be out there, doing. This has been borne out at a number of publishing
houses, where sports fiction (series especially) has been tried and
has failed.
There are exceptions, of course: baseball seems to have a loyal and
literate following; girls' sports fiction does pretty well, as long
as the focus is on "glamour" sports -- horseback riding, gymnastics,
ice skating; and many isolated titles, e.g. THE RUNNER
(Voigt),
IRONMAN (Crutcher), S.O.R. LOSERS (Avi), are read for years.
So, teachers and librarians, is it true? Can we not consistently hook
sports-players on books about their sport? Are we going about it in
the wrong way? Or are we making a mistake to think that sports
players *want* sports books. Maybe after working out all morning,
practicing football all afternoon, nursing injuries all evening,
football players want to curl up with some great science fiction.
Received on Thu 07 Jan 1999 07:30:12 AM CST
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 07:30:12 -0600
I am really enjoying this discussion! The children in my second grade class love books about sports, but I must agree with Marc that they are drawn to nonfiction. I also agree that the "real" stories are exciting and gripping all by themselves. I DO have some children who fall in love with Matt Christopher or the Angel Park All-Stars, but the nonfiction books are clearly more popular. Biographies of popular sports figures are always a hit... at least while the subject is in the public eye.
A few titles that are beloved by my children are: Teammates by Peter Golenbock and Paul Bacon (about the relationship between PeeWee Reese and Jackie Robinson), Home Run by Robert Burleigh and Mike Wimmer (about Babe Ruth), Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull and David Diaz (about local and international heroine Wilma Rudolph), Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki and Dom Lee (about baseball in the Japanese internment camps) Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer and Patricia Polacco
Robin Smith Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee
-----Original Message---- From: Brenda_Bowen at prenhall.com
[SMTP:Brenda_Bowen at prenhall.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 1999 10:04 PM
To: ccbc-net at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu
Subject: SPORTS FICTION
Here's a question to get the conversation going:
There is an accepted convention among publishers that kids who play
sports don't want to *read about* kids who play sports: They want to
be out there, doing. This has been borne out at a number of publishing
houses, where sports fiction (series especially) has been tried and
has failed.
There are exceptions, of course: baseball seems to have a loyal and
literate following; girls' sports fiction does pretty well, as long
as the focus is on "glamour" sports -- horseback riding, gymnastics,
ice skating; and many isolated titles, e.g. THE RUNNER
(Voigt),
IRONMAN (Crutcher), S.O.R. LOSERS (Avi), are read for years.
So, teachers and librarians, is it true? Can we not consistently hook
sports-players on books about their sport? Are we going about it in
the wrong way? Or are we making a mistake to think that sports
players *want* sports books. Maybe after working out all morning,
practicing football all afternoon, nursing injuries all evening,
football players want to curl up with some great science fiction.
Received on Thu 07 Jan 1999 07:30:12 AM CST
