Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Amazing Athlete, Great Nonfiction Book

Lerner Publications has just released a new title in its Amazing Athletes series aimed at readers in the second through fifth grades. This one is Sidney Crosby by Jeff Savage. Sidney Crosby's story is a great one. His father first taught him to play hockey at the age of two, and he began skating at three. Savage includes some interesting anecdotes. For example, the young Sidney Crosby practiced slapping pucks into the clothes dryer in his family's basement. His mother must have been a patient woman! Savage also includes the types of stories hockey fans love, of Sidney playing with a broken foot and having his front teeth knocked out by an opponent's skate blade. He went on to be the NHL's number one draft pick in 2005. He was named the Pittsburgh Penguins team captain, the NHL's youngest captain, as a teenager in the 2007-2008 season. Clearly, Sidney Crosby's impressive achievements make a good story, but this is also a great example of well written nonfiction, the kind of nonfiction more kids should be experiencing. The book presents information in a variety of ways. It includes bolded words in the text which are defined in a glossary, relevant sidebar information, captioned photographs, a table of contents, index, and suggested further reading and websites.

No comments: