Friday, July 5, 2013

Review: Big Book of Who Football

Summary: Need a dose of football during the offseason? TIME Home Entertainment and Sports Illustrated Kids commemorate the brightest stars in football’s past and present with the new book: The Big Book of Who: Football, a guide to the 101 players that every young fan needs to know. The Big Book of Who: Football (Sports Illustrated Kids books, $17.95 USD) goes on sale June 11, 2013 and will be available at sikids.com/whofootball and at retailers nationwide. 

The second book in the series, this 128-page, full color collection of football profiles, facts and stats will bring the best players in professional football history to life. 

Young sports fans will return to again and again to The Big Book of Who: Football as an encyclopedia football resource with the classic touches that Sports Illustrated Kids is famous for— informative age-appropriate writing and world-class action photography. 

Featuring gridiron greats like Dan Marino and Emmitt Smith, as well as current players such as Tom Brady, Cam Newton and Ray Lewis, The Big Book of Who: Football highlights football’s greatest: 

· Champions: The players who achieved football’s ultimate prize, many of them more than once. 
· Personalities: Men who are known for more than just the way they play the game on the field. 
· Record Breakers: Players whose feats set the standards by which future accomplishments are measured. 
· Super Scorers: Their specialty is putting the ball either through the uprights, or into the end zone. 
· Yardage Kings: The players who have excelled at moving their teams up and down the field.

If I'm being totally honest, we get more than our fair share of books arriving on our doorstep every week. However every once in awhile, a book arrives that causes a major stir in our household. That's exactly what happened with SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS BIG BOOK OF WHO: FOOTBALL . Booking Son was absolutely beside himself when he got his hands on this book. There might even have been a scream of excitement but I'm not sure because he grabbed the book and ran off to read it!

I seriously doubt that I'm alone when I say that my almost nine year old son is a reluctant reader. He reads 20 minutes a day and I don't really have to remind him, so I realize it could be worse, but he only wants non-fiction book and preferably sports' ones at that. Do I even need to explain how perfect the BIG BOOK OF WHO: FOOTBALL was for him?

I asked him to help me write this review and he said, "it's easy." "The BIG BOOK OF WHO: FOOTBALL is awesome!" And when I asked for more details, he said, "because it is." Needless to say, his excitement is genuine, but I knew I'd have to step in and explain why this book is so great!

The BIG BOOK OF WHO: FOOTBALL features 101 football stars that every fan should know. While Booking Son is pretty savvy about the current NFL players, he doesn't know a whole heck of a lot about older ones. This book remedied that. Not only did he learn more about the players he watches every fall, but he learned about some of the great champions like Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers (his all-time favorite team.)

The book is actually very reader friendly... especially if you are a nine year old boy. The book is divided into the following chapters: Champion, Personalities, Record Breakers, Super Scorers and Yardage Kings. There are loads of action-packed color photographs along with brief bios about the players. What makes this book even more fun is that each page spread has Fast Facts and Super Stats as well as "Did You Know?" sections. It really is perfect for budding sports enthusiasts.

Booking Son read this entire book in just a few days. I even found him reading longer than his mandatory 20 minutes per day which thrilled me to no end. I have a feeling that this book will be referenced again and again because he is already spouting facts and figures to me about some of his favorite players.

Highly recommended for football fans -- young and old alike!

Thanks to Goodman Media for providing a review copy of this book.

1 comment:

Beth F said...

Any book that holds the attention of young readers is a winner, and this one sounds perfect for sports lovers. This is going on my gift list for the young sports lovers in my life.