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  • Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More
  • Deborah Stevenson
Prelutsky, Jack Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More; illus. by Chris Raschka. Knopf, 2007 [40p] Library ed. ISBN 0-375-93700-5$19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-375-83700-0$16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 3-5

Esteemed poet (and now Children's Poet Laureate) Prelutsky turns his attention to the sporting world in just under a score of brief poems. Featured sports include karate, track, ice skating, and Frisbee in addition to the more usual sports of football, basketball, and baseball, and they're all seen from a kid's-eye view, with some participants victorious, others defeated, and others simply out for a good time. The verses are more jingly and forced than usual for Prelutsky, and the absence of poem titles means it's occasionally unclear when one poem ends and the other begins; nonetheless, this is a cheerful collection with a reassuring acknowledgment that expertise isn't everything. Raschka's illustrations feature his familiar daubed figures, here in juicy, gleaming tones of royal blue, coral, and lime. The verses' bounce and sass particularly lends them to oral uses such as reading aloud or even group recitations, and the topic may draw ordinarily poetry-resistant kids to celebrate the rhythm of words as they celebrate the rhythm of game play.

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