Children - Sports & Adventure, Poetry - Assorted Topics, Children - Fiction & Literature

Hoops

Name: Hoops
Author: Robert Burleigh
ISBN: 9780152163808

by Robert Burleigh, Stephen T. Johnson

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Overview

Poetry comes alive on the basketball court. Feel the rough roundness of the ball. Celebrate the soaring freedom of the dunk. Savor the moment when all eyes focus on the long three-pointer.
In dynamic words and pictures, award-winning author Robert Burleigh and Caldecott Honor-artist Stephen T. Johnson capture the energy and passion that electrifies every moment in a game of hoops.

Illustrations and poetic text describe the movement and feel of the game of basketball.

Synopsis

Hoops is not a book about basketball—Hoops is basketball. How it feels to be a part of the motion, and a part of the moment-the longest moment-as the ball hangs in midair poised over the rim of the basket. The drama of the game . . . and of victory. A book about sport, poetry, friendship, teamwork. Feel it.

Publishers Weekly

In a starred review PW said, "Anyone who has played basketball on a hot city playground or followed it courtside will respond to the sensuous, tactile tone of this poetic description of the game. Marvelous pastel drawings of teenagers on the court paired with the book's design turn up the heat." Ages 5-8. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

About the Author, Robert Burleigh

STEPHEN T. JOHNSON has illustrated many books for children, including two by Robert Burleigh: Goal and Hoops, an ALA Notable Children's Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. He lives in Kansas.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

“An involving experience.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Sensuous.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A spellbinding book.”—The Boston Globe

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

The pastel images of these basketball players are magnificent. You can feel the game, the power of the girl as she drives to the basket, and the strength and skill of the other players as they dribble, twist, turn and leap in this fast moving pickup game. The words in white are inset in black frames and should be read aloud, because they echo what one sees in the pictures. You don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy this book, but sports fans are sure to like it. It would also serve as a good choice for the reluctant reader or as an introduction to poetic text.

School Library Journal

Gr 2 UpA handful of kids, a neighborhood court, and a ball are the elements that spring explosively to life in this ode to the game that captures the energy, the elation, the sheer poetry of basketball. Nov. 1997

School Library Journal

Gr 2 Up--A handful of kids, a neighborhood court, and a ball are the elements that spring explosively to life in this ode to the game that captures the energy, the elation, the sheer poetry of basketball. (Nov.)

Kirkus Reviews

Clumsy writing mars this otherwise breathless, evocative tribute to top-speed playground b-ball. Johnson demonstrates his brilliant technical versatility, switching from the photo- realistic stills of Alphabet City (1995) to dramatically swirling scenes, done with pastels, of older teens seen through burning orange light against sketchy backgrounds, gracefully leaping, twisting, or crouching in watchful anticipation as the ball circles the stringless hoop. The visual excitement outstrips the accompanying poem; Burleigh (Flight, 1991, etc.), when not employing Nike-style ad copy ("Hoops./The game./Feel it,") descends into confusing abstractions and poorly chosen imagery—"The ball/The way it answers whenever you call./The never-stop back and forth flow, like tides going in, going out." The attempt to capture the game in words is certainly in earnest; the outstanding art merits better.