Looking Inside Sports Aerodynamics

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-- Inspector Gadget takes a break from his Interpol duties to shepherd readers through the elaborate process of creating cartoons, from initial story idea to post-production polishing. He makes general statements about the rules of perspective and the ``persistence of vision'' that make moving pictures possible; about the track readers, layout artists, and numerous others who work on each scene; about other types of animation, such as Claymation. While this account only skims the surface of a huge subject, a supplementary ``Toon Time Line'' introduces the major names in the field, and several briefly described projects will help budding animators understand some of the principles involved. The full-color illustrations mix simple paintings, large blurry stills, and uncaptioned photos of people at work. In Sports Aerodynamics , Schultz steps forward to study a limited topic--the forces acting on balls and athletes in flight. After a short discussion of scientific principles, he goes on to explain why baseballs, footballs, basketballs, golf balls, and frisbees curve and swerve, why tennis balls are fuzzy, etc. Large full-color photos add visual interest, and sidebar digressions, plus diagrams festooned with arrows and squiggles, help to reinforce the text. Aside from some filler illustrations, both books are well produced; however, they lack further reading or source lists, and Cartoon Animation looks at only one (not particularly well-known) character. --John Peters, New York Public Library