Captain Awesome Takes a Dive

 

In this, the 4th Captain Awesome book, Eugene McGillicuddy is off to the Community Center pool for swimming lessons. He and his best friend Charlie, aka Nacho Cheese Man, quickly discover that even bad guys aren't afraid of the water.

 

In this book Captain Awesome and Nacho Cheese Man are back to fighting evil everywhere they go. They always have to be on guard because they are never sure when a bad guy might show up and attack. But evil doesn't always show up in human form.

 

As swimming lessons progress, we discover that Eugene cannot go into the deep end.

Will Eugene and Charlie make it into the deep end before lessons are over? Will Captain Awesome and his partner Nacho Cheese Man be able to defeat the evil that has taken over the pool? You've got to read this highly entertaining book to find your answers!

 

I give this book:

 

 

Fun Features:

 

* speech bubbles

* creative use of font/bold words

* catch phrase of 'MI-TEE!'

* tons of onomatopoeia

* entertaining illustrations

* amusing characters

Captain Awesome is a great book for kids just beginning to read chapter books. Eugene is a very likable character and he is easy to relate to. It's also great for kids to see how they can use their imagination in everyday life. The illustrations in this are fun as are the illustrations.

Coach Hyatt is a Riot (My Weird School Daze #4)

Pee Wee football season has begun and A.J. and his teammates have a new coach. The coach is a girl and she is a little bit crazy! She says and does all kinds of weird things that don't really have anything to do with football. A.J. and his team aren't really sure how the things that they are doing to practice are going to help them in any way when it comes to game time. The worst part is that she wants to have girls on the team.

 

A.J. is a very strange kid himself. He is the one telling the story and he has a very interesting take on the whole thing. This also includes his take on the crummy cheerleaders that Coach Hyatt has asked to be at the practices and games.

 

Will all Coach Hyatt's shenanigans lead to a win in their first game for the Moose?

 

 

I give this book:

 

 

Text features to check out!

 

* relatable main character

* great voice throughout

* repeating text that is entertaining

* it sounds just like an 8 year-old-boy is telling the story

* the main storyline actually is about football
 

 

 This is a really crazy book, just like the rest of the Weird School Daze books. I think that kids would love this book just because the characters have funny, silly personalities, just like some of them. There are also a lot of catchy phrases throughout the book that makes the book more predictable. Fun books for kids.

 

 

Brittany the Basketball Fairy

Brittany is a basketball fairy. But she has a problem. Her magical basketball has been stolen by goblons. They are determined to keep the magic ball all to themselves and to ruin the Fairy Olympics.

Rachel and Kirsty are girls that are determined to keep those nasty goblins from ruining Fairyland's Olympics. Rachel and Kirsty must come up with a plan to get the ball back from the goblins. But will they be able to return the ball back to Fairyland in time? Or will the goblin's have their own slam dunk triumph?

 

This would be a great sports book for girls. There is also a full Sports Fairies series inside the Rainbow Magic series that girl athletes would absolutely LOVE.

 

 

I give this book:

 

 

Tantalizing text features:

 

* same main characters from all the Rainbow Magic books

* pictures throughout for beginning chapter book readers

* fun use of basketballs on all the pages

* main characters could be your best friend

* great vocabulary

 

 

This was a really cute, easy read for girls. I was a little confused at the beginning of this book because they immediately began talking about fairies. But as the book progressed, it worked itself out so that it was perfectly clear.

 

 



Horrid Henry and the Soccer Fiend

 

 Horrid Henry is a very unique character. His name isn't Horrid Henry for no reason! In Henry's mind, he does no wrong, he makes no mistakes. He is very quick to speak his opinion and do whatever it takes to be the best at everything.

In the Horrid Henry series, the books all come with 4 stories. This book also has a story about Henry peeking in his brother's diary, the horrifying shopping adventures with his mom, and then how he deals with his arch enemy (his dad's boss's son)  joining his class.

In the actual story of Horrid Henry and the Soccer Fiend, his teacher, "Miss Battle-Axe," announces amazing news during class. For their school, her name was selected as the person to give away 2 tickets to a playoff game for their town's local soccer team. She has decided to have a soccer game for her class, and the best player will win the tickets. She makes it very clear, though, that her decision on the winner will be final.

 

Of course, with Horrid Henry being the way that he is, he was bound and determined to do whatever it would take to win those tickets. He was very annoyed though, because everyone knows that Moody Margaret is the best soccer player and that she would probably win. He was going to do whatever it took to ensure that he was the best player during the soccer match on that day during recess.

 

But being the horrid person that he is, Henry did everything that he could to win the game. This included cheating by tackling, tripping, and using his hands.

 

Will Horrid Henry win those tickets with his cheating ways? Or will Miss Battle-Axe choose a more deserving person to go to the game?

 



I give this book:

 

 

 

Terrific Text Features:

 

* 4 short stories in one book

* mesmerizing - you have to keep reading

* silly nicknames for all the characters

* he's the villain that you cheer against

* funny pictures throughout each story

 

 

 I can see why the Horrid Henrys are a favorite for kids. I did not find Henry to be a very enjoyable character. I don't like the way he talks to people or how he thinks that he does no wrong. But for children, that may know kids that act like this, I think it would be good for them to see that they don't always come out on top.

 

 

 



You're a Good Sport, Miss Malarkey

In this book about Miss Malarkey, she gets put in charge of the school's soccer team after two other coaches can't swing it. Miss Malarkey doesn't have a whole lot of knowledge about soccer, so she relies on books to help her learn the sport.

 

Unfortunately, not everyone is supportive of Miss Malarkey as a coach. The kids think she's great, because she accepts all their abilities and supports them no matter what their athletic/soccer ability.

But when they start playing games, and the parents fill the sidelines, the parents don't appreciate that Miss Malarkey wants the kids to learn sportsmanship and teamwork. The parents want the kids to win, win, WIN!

 

Miss Malarkey has finally had enough, changes the name of the team, and changes the behavior of the parents. In the end Miss Malarkey teaches the kids and the parents about the true value of playing sports.

 

I give this book:

 

 

 

Text Features:

 

* bright illustrations

* good message/lesson

*amusing

I really did like this book. It does teach a good lesson about teamwork and sportsmanship. I feel like this could be taken to some of the parents at sporting events so that they can maybe start to understand their impact on their children regarding sports.

 

 

Welcome!

On this blog I am hoping to bring about more interest in sports fiction. Sports fiction has never really been an interest of mine, but I have discovered some third grade friends that love sports and may therefore love sports fiction! Let's work our way through some of these books together!