Spotlight Striker (Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novels Series)

by Blake A. Hoena, Gerardo Sandoval (Illustrator)

Overview

Carlos Ramirez has always been the Strikers' best scorer. He pulls off bicycle kicks with ease, and his best friend, Tou Yang, knows exactly where to put the passes. But the state's best team, the Bandits, are coming to town, and Carlos hears that he'll have a very special fan in the stands. His uncle, a professional soccer player, will be watching his nephew's every move during the Strikers' biggest game of the year. As the pressure to perform sets in, Carlos struggles to even hit the ball, let alone do bicycle kicks. Everyone has seen that Carlos is a gifted athlete, but no one knows whether he'll shine as the center of attention, or be blinded by the spotlight.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781434227874
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	08/15/2010
Series:	Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novels Series
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	178,208
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.30(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	GN510L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 10 Years

About the Author

Blake A. Hoena grew up in central Wisconsin, where he wrote stories about robots conquering the moon and trolls lumbering around the woods behind his parents house. He now lives in Minnesota and continues to write about fun things like space aliens and superheroes. Blake has written more than 100 chapter books and graphic novels for children.

Editorial Reviews

Sports Illustrated Kids, in conjunction with Stone Arch Books, created a series of sports related fictional comic stories for elementary and middle school kids. The comics are designed to teach lessons on teamwork, sharing, anger control, bullying, fair play, disability inclusion, gender inclusion, and other lessons through a sports framework. Both mainstream and alternative sports are included: • Snowboarding • Baseball • Football • Basketball • Paintball • Hockey • Skateboarding • Soccer Many of the stories feature an overenthusiastic or even out-of-control parent or coach who pushes a kid to be overly aggressive and win at all costs. After a quick talk with a sage advisor they change their ways and even apologize to the player. Okay, so it’s an ending with a pretty-bow. I’m typically more of a fan of authentic stories rather than teachable moment morality tales or after-school specials, but I understand the place that morality tales play in the classroom especially with younger kids. Considering the discussion of bullying within schools and society recently, perhaps we need more direct instruction on how to treat other people and behave within society. I think these would be well played on the elementary or early middle school level, but I suspect seventh and eighth graders might wholly reject the titles with their eye rolling, sighing and general sardonic teenagerness. That doesn’t mean they don’t need the lessons or should not have the lessons, but you might encounter resistance. The elementary level is where this series will do its good. Classroom teachers and even physical education teachers could use this series to help instruct kids on the complicated issues of bullying, ball hogging, aggression, and extreme sports pressures. Even on the elementary level we see students pushed very hard by parents or coaches to accel, win and often hurt or punish the other team. Learning to deal with those pressures at an early level can help with character development on and off the field. ART REVIEW SI Kids comics are designed like a TV sports show with stats, bios, and after-game interviews. The whole package is designed to engage reluctant readers in a TV-style experience. Once hooked, it can teach them honorable sports conduct. In a further attempt to gain entrance into modern minds, SI Kids comics use colorized manga with simple panel layouts, which is popular among youth. AGE RECOMMENDATION Chris’ Rating: Ages 7 and older Publisher’s Reading Level: Grades 2-3 Publisher’s Interest Level: Grades 3-8 Lexile levels, ATOS, and Guided Reading levels are available on all the titles in the series. BE AWARE There are bullies and ultra-aggressive parents, but they always learn their lessons in the end. OTHER INFORMATION Publisher: Stone Arch Books Genre: Sports Format: Reinforced Library Binding Pages: 56 Color: Full color Google Previews are also available for some of the titles. CHRIS’ RECOMMENDATION: Recommended

The Graphic Classroom Blog

Ok, let me start out by announcing that I am NOT a sports fan. I'm not into sports...not a sports person whatsoever. You may have guessed this by the fact that I run a network of nerdy websites. I mean, I review books....what'd you seriously expect, right? Here is the thing with these releases from Capstone Kids [Stone Arch Books]....they rock, plain and simple. Why? Read on.... I gave this stack of books from Capstone and Sports Illustrated Kids to my own children and they went nuts! They too aren't into sports, but these aren't books for jocks. These are extreme sports and the focus is really on the characters and story. The sports hobbies are really just a backdrop. They're fun and interesting and not at all geared just towards jocky kids. We wanted to feature this series and bring them to your attention, whether you're a librarian, teacher or a parent, these titles should be in your possession!  They can be purchased in hardback library binding or softcover. http://booklegiondotcom.blogspot.com/2010/02/sports-illustrated-kids-book-series.html

Book Legion