The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Perfect Match: The Story of Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton by Lori Dubbin, illustrated by Amanda Quartey Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Karin Fisher-Golton Buy at Bookshop.org In Perfect Match , author Lori Dubbin recounts the true story of Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton’s friendship and eventual tennis doubles partnership. As the story opens Althea is already established in her skills, but as a Black American tennis player in the 1950s, she is excluded from the main tennis league. The story flashes back slightly to Angela’s childhood in England in the 1940s, when she is developing a strong interest and talent in tennis, but is unable to join any tennis club because she is Jewish. Angela esteems Althea, and when she has a chance to see her play, she takes it eagerly. Later, when an opportunity to play in the same tennis tour opens up for both of them, they meet and become friends. Eventually Althea and Angela, who both ...

Striker Boy by Jonny Zucker Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Laurie Adler Buy at Bookshop.org After touring the world for seven years, thirteen-year-old Nat Levy and his father finally return to England to settle down. It is rough going at first; they live in a dump, and have no money, family, or friends. The one constant in Nat's life is soccer, or rather, football, as it's referred to in this British novel. Nat's amazing soccer skills are scouted at a community event for his favorite team, and, incredibly, the team's management illegally arranges for young Nat to get a place on the first team squad. But will Nat be able to save the struggling Hatten Rovers from bankruptcy? There are suspicious, even illegal, undercurrents behind the team's poor performance, and Nat must face danger both on and off the field in order to save his beloved team.  Striker Boy 's strength is as a sports novel, with lots of play-by-play commentary. There is suspense and some espio...

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Sylvie Shaffer Eleven-year-old Vivy learned to pitch a knuckleball from pitcher VJ Cappello at an event for kids like her, who have autism. At the time, VJ was still in the Minor League, and Vivy was still honing her communication and social skills. Vivy and VJ have both come a long way since then- him playing in the Majors, and Vivy working hard on both her knuckleball and her own self-agency. She writes to her hero VJ as a social-skills-class assignment, not expecting him to write back, but not only does he (eventually), Vivy gets scouted for a local team while practicing her pitching with her big brother, Nate. Vivy expects that the biggest hurdle will be getting her (slightly stereotypical Jewish) mother’s approval to play, but of course that’s only the first of many challenges being the only girl, and the only autistic kid, on the team. The book’s epistolary format lends itself to dire...