Reviews

This title is part of a six-book series on standard American sports (other titles focus on baseball, football, gymnastics, hockey, and soccer) presenting twenty-five informative points in forty-eight pages. Brief paragraphs, boxes with facts, tips, or historical information, and photos of major stars or moves cover the basics of each sport. A one-page glossary of main terms, a short list of similar books, several Internet addresses, and an index complete the coverage. Basketball skills like shooting, scoring, defense, rebounding, dribbling, and passing comprise the first fifteen points of the twenty-five. Torres discusses difficulties for beginners like establishing a pivot foot. In "Playing Solid Defense" he explains how to block a shot without committing a foul. The next five points cover training and the mental aspects of the game while the last five are tricks and games like "twenty-one" and "steal the bacon" to improve skills in a fun way. This is the format for the series. The necessarily brief text is aimed at grades 4 and up but the description of moves needs more than a static photo. Sequential photos would better reinforce described action. Photos show a good variety of multiracial men and women players, pros, college teams, and young adults. If your library already has good books about learning basketball, this should be a supplemental purchase. For less cost and better explanations, see Basketball: From Tip-Off to Slam Dunk--the Essential Guide by Clive Gifford., Children's Literature

This title is part of a six-book series on standard American sports (other titles focus on baseball, football, gymnastics, hockey, and soccer) presenting twenty-five informative points in forty-eight pages. Brief paragraphs, boxes with facts, tips, or historical information, and photos of major stars or moves cover the basics of each sport. A one-page glossary of main terms, a short list of similar books, several Internet addresses, and an index complete the coverage. Basketball skills like shooting, scoring, defense, rebounding, dribbling, and passing comprise the first fifteen points of the twenty-five. Torres discusses difficulties for beginners like establishing a pivot foot. In "Playing Solid Defense" he explains how to block a shot without committing a foul. The next five points cover training and the mental aspects of the game while the last five are tricks and games like "twenty-one" and "steal the bacon" to improve skills in a fun way. This is the format for the series. The necessarily brief text is aimed at grades 4 and up but the description of moves needs more than a static photo. Sequential photos would better reinforce described action. Photos show a good variety of multiracial men and women players, pros, college teams, and young adults. If your library already has good books about learning basketball, this should be a supplemental purchase. For less cost and better explanations, see Basketball: From Tip-Off to Slam Dunk--the Essential Guide by Clive Gifford., Children's Literature