Around the World - Reviews
|
|
Kirkus Reviews |
|
|
|
In the hottest and most cosmic hoops contest since Kevin O’Malley’s Mount Olympus Basketball (2003), Coy shifts the court between shots from New York to Perth, to Shanghai, then Istanbul and on around the world. The players may change with each turn of the page, but the game stays the same, and so does the fast-break pace: In Lagos, just as “Obinna muscles for position and jumps for the rebound,” [turn] “On a court in Paris, France, Jerome slaps the rebound-FWAPP! He tosses to Antoine, who jets up the floor.” The art is all energy, with thickly drawn figures flying across panels and spreads past comic-book style dialogue balloons and text boxes. Opening and closing with Tanika and Jamal shooting “Around the World” on a playground in New York (instructions for play appended), Coy and the illustrators give the speed, the physicality and especially the international scope of the game a real slam dunk. |
|
|
|
School Library Journal |
|
|
|
A pickup basketball game in New York City expands to similar scenes of kids and hoops in nine other locations around the world. Cartoon panels show a girl named Tanika leading a fast break, then a page turn shifts to a moonlit court in Perth at the same moment. The Australian kids complete their fast break and subsequent spreads take readers to China, Turkey, and other locations before returning to the finish of the New York game. Comic-book-style artwork captures the speed and motion of the sport with elongated figures and good use of small panels inset within larger views. Game details come through in dialogue bubbles, sound effects (thwack! and swish), and play-by-play description: Vladimir finds Marko, who drives baseline. The language and look of the players convey their differences, as do the various venues, from an indoor Serbian gym to cool beachside hoops in Puerto Rico. Court action includes arguments, injuries, and rough play, along with fancy passes and finger rolls. This helps reaffirm the commonalities of the sport, regardless of the setting. Tanika's game of around the world that begins and ends the book is a slightly forced tie-in to the international theme but serves as a suitable framework for the more fast-paced scenes in between. This title helps fill the need for books about kids from different countries, with particular appeal to fans of comics or basketball or both.
–Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
|
|
|
|
Copyright © Reed Business Information,
a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
|
|
