sport – Page 2 – Aussie Reviews

Footy Dreaming by Michael Hyde

Music blasted from the clock radio, loud and insistent. Noah groaned, and still half asleep, searched for the snooze button, but only managed to send the radio crashing to the floor.

He buried his head in the pillow, his mind still in his dream of scrappy play – in and under, then a player marking the ball, forty metres out. Noah thought the player was him but couldn’t be sure, and didn’t know whether he’d kicked the ball or not. …

… On the other side of town, a fit of coughing and spluttering from the kitchen woke Ben from a deep sleep. Ever since he’d been a little kid doing Auskick, bouncing a ball on the way to school, or clutching one of his dozen footballs while he slept, Ben had dreamed about playing footy – dreamed about playing with an AFL club.

Music blasted from the clock radio, loud and insistent. Noah groaned, and still half asleep, searched for the snooze button, but only managed to send the radio crashing to the floor.

Noah and Ben both play weekend footy in the country town where they live and where they attend the same high school. They are both being tipped as contenders for the Bushrangers Development squad. Noah plays with the Mavericks, Ben with their archrival Kookaburras. As the new season of football begins, pressure builds for both boys. For Noah, racism is an extra complication he needs to find a way to manage both on and off the field. Ben is struggling with the attitudes at the club where his father played and where he is expected to remain. The boys form an unexpected friendship, united in their striving for Bushrangers selection.

Footy Dreaming is told in third person omniscient so the reader is able to experience a wide range of viewpoints, although most of the action happens in Noah’s and in Ben’s point of view. But there are also the voices of the townspeople. There’s racism, family loyalty and dynamics, club loyalty, football passion, first tentative relationship, gender roles and more. Primarily, Footy Dreaming is about striving to be the best and to have a chance to shine. There’s plenty here to generate classroom or family discussion. But before that, it’s a ripper read, ideal for early- to mid-secondary readers.

Footy Dreaming, Michael Hyde Ford Street Publishing 2015 ISBN: 9781925000993

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

From the Feet Up, by Tanya Saad

‘I’m sorry, I’m on my way home from work and it’s pouring with rain. Can you say that again?’
“I can call you back later?’ Dr Becker, the Head Geneticist at the Hereditary Cancer Clinic, said.
‘No, no. It’s fine,’ I replied, eager to know what I’d just heard about a cancer gene was correct.
‘Your family has a hereditary gene fault that increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer,’ Dr Becker repeated. ‘We’ve tested your dad and he’s a carrier of the gene.’

Tanya Saad hadn’t heard of the BRCA 1 gene until a family study revealed that her father was a carrier, and that many female relatives had died prematurely from breast or cervical cancer. When tests revealed that she too had the gene, her life changed irrevocably. Decisions had to be made about how to confront this news – whether to have difficult preventative surgery, or to rely on regular testing t pick up early signs of cancer, if she should develop it. The fact that one of her two sisters also tested positive added an extra challenge. As she navigated her way through these challenges, Tanya also revisited her childhood and her heritage, as well as reassessing her future.

From The Feet Up is an honest, personal account of one woman’s journey through a complex health issue. Blending the exploration of her experience with BRCA1, including the decision to have a preventative mastectomy with a memoir of her experiences as a Lebanese child growing up in a country town, her sporting career and her family life, makes for a complex and rich story.

An intriguing memoir.

From The Feet Up , by Tanya Saad
Harlequin Mira, 2014
ISBN 9781743566770

Available from good bookstores or online.

Burning the Bails: The Story of the Ashes, by Krista Bell & Ainsley Walters

When the ashes were ready, Russell put his hand in his pocket and pulled out one of his mother’s empty perfume bottles. It was porcelain and had two tiny handles.
‘How wonderful!’ laughed Miss Morphy. ‘It looks exactly like a miniature urn. Well done, Russell.’
‘This is perfect, darling,’ exclaimed his mother. ‘A real urn for our Rupertswood “Ashes”.’

When the touring English cricket team visits his family home in Rupertswood, Russell Clarke is delighted. He loves cricket and longs to be part of the fun. So when his mother and her companion decide to burn the bails from a match and present it to the English captain, Russell joins in by finding the perfect vessel for the ashes.

Burning the Bails is a fictionalised account of the true story behind the Ashes, the trophy for the cricket test series between Australia and England. While Russell’s involvement is imagined, the story is based on fact, and will give young cricket fans an insight into the origin and significance of the Ashes.

With the story supported by photographs, pages of historical facts, and the illustrative work of Ainsley Walters, and with the Ashes series currently being played in Australia, this is a wonderful offering for young cricketers.

Burning The Bails

Burning the Bails: The Story of the Ashes, by Krista Bell, illustrated by Ainsley Walters
One Day Hill, 2013
ISBN 978098731398

Available from good bookstores or
online.

Banjo Bounces Back, by Lachie Hume

Banjo was a star.
But one day Banjo flew too high…
and took a terrible tumble.

Banjo the horse loves hoofball. He practices every day with his friend Bella, and they play together every Saturday wit their team, the Whinnies. But when Banjo has a fall, the doctor orders him not to play for six weeks. Bedridden, Banjo plays on his Haystation and eats molasses. When he is finally allowed to play hoofball again, he is overweight and unfit, and nothing feels right. Discouraged, he gives up the game – until something happens to Bella that makes him realise how much his friends, his team, and hoofball all mean to him. He realises that if he wants to keep playing he needs to get fit again.

Banjo Bounces Back is a humorous new picture book from the creator of Clancy the Courageous Cow, with messages about health and fitness, being part of a team, self belief and friendship. The horse characters, brought to life in a deceptively simple watercolour illustrations, and the equine lingo (Haystation and horspital are just two examples) will appeal to young readers.

Lots of fun.
Banjo Bounces Back, by Lachie Hume
Omnibus, 2012
ISBN 9781862918467

Available from good bookstores or online.

World Cricket Records 2011

Who is the only batsman to make three double centuries in a single test series?
Who holds the record for the most test wickets in a calendar year?
Against which opponents did Australia complete the largest victory by runs in the ICC Cricket World Cup?

In the midst of the cricket season and with the World Cup looming, World Cricket Records 2011 is sure to be devoured by young cricket mad readers. Packed with the answers to the above questions and hundreds of other facts and records, the book focuses on all aspects of cricket, including bowling batting and fielding records, and the different forms of the game from twenty-twenty matches to five day tests.

As well as tables of facts, there are text boxes recounting the events of specific games, and hundreds of photographs of cricket stars, both contemporary and historical.

Especially likely to appeal to upper primary aged boys, particularly those with a fascination for cricket.

World Cricket Records 2011
Scholastic, 2010
9781741697384

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Cricket Australia’s Ashes Handbook

It was after Australia’s first win on English soil, in 1882, in the ninth meeting between the two countries, that the term ‘the ashes’ was used.
The result of the match was described as the greatest cricketing shock in England’s history. A few days after the match, a ‘fake’ obituary was printed in the Sproting Times, an English newspaper. A footnote at the bottom suggested ‘the body’ of English cricket ‘be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia’.
Before leaving England for the 1882-83 tour to Australia, England’s captain, Ivo Bligh, promised to bring back the ‘Ashes of English cricket’. He repeated his pledge on reaching Australia, and explained it to confused Aussies who had never read the Sporting Times. ‘The Ashes’ became part of the ‘talk’ about the tour.

Cricket Australia’s Ashes Handbook is subtitled ‘The Ultimate Guide for Young Cricketers’. And it’s full of facts and figures, perfect for the young cricket-lover. It begins with a history of the Ashes competition and highlights particularly memorable games. Then there are statistics, a favourite part of cricket. Highest scorers, best bowlers, heroes of the form are mentioned, and there’s plenty of trivia too. Then it’s down to business. Who will be picked in the team for this year? Some of the likely contenders are profiled and the reader is offered the opportunity to do their own selecting. There’s a schedule for all the games, and places to record the outcomes, wickets and scorers. And just to check you’ve been listening/reading, there’s a quiz. How much do you know about the Ashes? Ashes Handbook finishes up with pages to record your own cricketing statistics and resources for discovering more about cricket.

Perfect for cricket fans keen to keep track of the summer’s traditional game. Light enough to carry in your backpack.

Cricket Australia’s Ashes Handbook, John Origlasso,
Scholastic 2010
ISBN: 9781741697810

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author www.clairesaxby.com

Goal! by Catherine Chambers

Pinpointing the origins of football is rather like scrambling for the ball itself. “It’s MINE! I got here FIRST!” Many claim it, but few can prove it. Kicking a pebble may well have been born in a prehistoric cave; we’ll probably never know for sure. But with regards to a more structured game, there are written histories, archaeological finds and artworks from ancient China and Japan to Egypt, Greece, Rome, Australia and the Americas. As archaeologists work their way around the globe, they’ll probably find that football’s web of roots reaches almost everywhere. and while the games may vary from country to country, city to city, and school to school, the name “football” has been used for centuries, while the name :soccer” is a much more recent invention.

Australians have mostly known football to be the game that uses the Sherrin, features marks and long kicks and has four posts at each end of the playing field. But the world knows football as the game Australians once called soccer. Catherine Chambers suggests that football owes its world popularity to its roots in almost every country. In Goal!she explores the history of football from early documentation to current statistics. And like the global coverage of the World Cup, no country or individual element is forgotten. Discover why a king called the game dangerous, one mayor thought playing it would contribute to the spread of foot and mouth disease and some churches declared playing it a sin! See how the rules evolved to those used today and why umpires are now called referees. ‘Goal!’ includes player profiles and statistics, chapters on female football, politics and money, and many info bites with anecdotes and oddities.

Catherine Chambers also wrote ‘A History of Cricket’ and employs the same engaging conversational style in Goal. She invites the reader to come take a chair and discover why football is the sport for everyman (and woman). From seed-filled cloth balls to the challenges of World Cup qualification, Goal!is jam-packed full of football. There is a list of contents, glossary and extensive index, making navigation easy for the can’t-sit-still, dip-in reader. The progression from ancient to modern times entices sequential reading. There are ball-shaped bios that pass from one to the next featured player. It’s like a ‘choose your own adventure’ for sport. Recommended for upper primary, early secondary readers, and anyone who wants to know more about football with the round ball.

Goal! Catherine Chambers
Black Dog Books 2010
ISBN: 9781742031576

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Diary of a Soccer Star, by Shamini Flint

I scored a goal today.
Unfortunately, it was an own goal.
It wasn’t my fault.
Really, it wasn’t!
Jack, “Talk to the Feet” Gordon hit the ball back to the keeper. (I’ve just found out this is called a back pass.)
The goalkeeper went for one of those long kicks…why couldn’t he just pick the ball up, the clod?
(I’ve just discovered that the goalie is not allowed to pick up the ball from a back pass – stupid rule!)
You see the coach had told me to play in defence.. So what actually happened was that the ball hit me on the back. Well, to be honest, the ball hit my bottom…

Marcus Atkinson’s dad has decided that Marcus needs to spend more time outside, less on the computer, more time making friends. And that means soccer. His dad has an answer to every one of Marcus’ objections. Marcus is good at maths, and lousy, he knows, at soccer – at every sport really. His recollections of earlier sporting attempts are all filled with disaster. Why will this be any different? And if that’s not bad enough, his teacher wants him to keep a diary. And worse still, his first game makes him famous around the school – as the boy who made an ‘own goal’ with his bottom. It’s true! There’s a photo to prove it. He’s good at maths, and wishes that was enough. But he must play soccer. When soccer and maths collide, Marcus isn’t quite sure what will happen. There are black and white illustrations on every opening.

Diary of a Soccer Star introduces the reader to a nerdy boy who is convinced that he’s an absolute loss when it comes to playing soccer. His first game was a disaster and he’s convinced things will not improve. His father has written a motivational book and is a walking motivator with a slogan to address any negativity. He encourages his son to continue to train at soccer despite Marcus’ reservations. Marcus sees himself as good at maths and bad at soccer. And he thinks that cannot change. When the chips are down though, Marcus realises that he does have friends and maths doesn’t just belong in a text book. Illustrations make Diary of a Soccer Star an excellent choice for readers daunted by the move to less illustrated texts. In many ways, it reads like a graphic novel. Recommended for independent readers and reluctant readers.

Diary of a Soccer Star, Shamini Flint, ill Sally Heinrich
Sunbear Publishing
ISBN: 9789810858247 (Distributed in Australia via Fremantle Press)

Reviewed by Claire Saxby Children’s book author.
www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Howzat! by Brett Lee & Michael Panckridge

‘Hey!’ Georgie waved to me from across the quadrangle after school. I was heading out to the oval for our first cricket practice for the season. ‘Have you heard yet?’ she yelled.
I knew what she was talking about. The MCG cricket camp. The letters were being sent out this week. Every day I’d raced home to check the letter box but there’d been nothing. Jimbo hadn’t got anything either, which made me feel slightly better. I wondered about Scott Craven, but I wasn’t going to ask him. Besides, as long as I didn’t know the letters had arrived, there was a chance that mine was still coming.

Howzat! is two books in one: Book 4: Toby Jones and the Timeless Cricket Match and Book 5: Toby Jones and the Clash with Father Time. Each is an instalment in the Toby Jones series. Toby Jones is a mad keen cricketer. He’s also a soak for cricketing facts. But more than that, he’s discovered that he’s a time traveller and can travel to any cricket game recorded in Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack. Time travel is awesome, allowing Toby to travel to some of the most famous cricket games in history. But there are others who also want to travel, and not all of them are respectful of the rules of time travel. In ‘Toby Jones and the Timeless Cricket Match’ Toby travels backwards and forwards, including to a cricket game that he could never have imagined. In ‘Toby Jones and The Clash with Father Time’, Toby’s troubles only get worse. Everything he does seems to have consequences for those close to him. His mentor Jim tries to help him, but sometimes Jim’s help is not enough. Toby is on his own.

Howzat! (Toby Jones) is a wild ride. On one level there’s the adventure that every aspiring cricketer experiences as they improve in skills. New opportunities present themselves. Cricket is a cruel game, where a momentary lapse in concentration or a single ill-timed shot can see a batter fail. Bowlers have similar challenges, they are only as good as their last ball. Howzat! (Toby Jones) is full of cricketing facts and figures, terms and stories. Even as the story of Toby’s cricket progresses, a wilder adventure is evolving. The threads run parallel, both requiring Toby to grow and develop as both a player and a person. In any team there are times when there are rules to be followed and times when instinct and self-knowledge take over. Recommended for cricket-lovers and for those enjoying a wild adventure through time.

Howzat! , Brett Lee and Michael Panckridge
Angus & Robertson 2009
ISBN: 9780732288389

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Ballad of Les Darcy, by Peter Fitzsimons

Put Les Darcy in a uniform and the men of Australia will march to hell behind him.

Les Darcy was arguably the greatest boxer Australia ever saw. A good Catholic boy from a poor rural family, he began his boxing career in the years before World War 1, and captured the imagination, and hearts, of the Australian public. But when war broke out, Les was not ready to sign up until his family, who relied on his winnings, was provided for. As the conscription debate raged, Les found himself an unwitting target of those who believed he should sign up. Torn between his duty to his family and his love of his country, Darcy struggled to balance the two, with a tragic outcome.

The Ballad of Les Darcy tells the story of one of Australia’s greatest sporting heroes. Previously ranked alongside Donald Bradman and Phar Lap as Australia’s leading three sports legends, Darcy’s name has perhaps faded a little from the public spotlight. In this well paced biography, author Peter Fitzsimons brings his story to life both for those who perhaps who already know something of Darcy’s tale, as well as for those who perhaps may not have heard it previously.

Darcy’s life was remarkable – and deserves to be remembered.

The Ballad of Les Darcy, by Peter Fitzsimons
This edition Harper Collins, 2009

This book can be purchased online at Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.