Thursday, June 4, 2009

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax Jonah Winter Andre Carrilho

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter, illus. by Andre Carrilho. This book is gorgeous before the first page. The cover is a hologram of Koufax pitching off the mound. Winter's captures all that is The Sandy Koufax. The six years he was king of the mound with his fastball. Winter also tells of the pre-super star Koufax, who had little control and almost quit the game of baseball. The author gives the reader many facts about Koufax and baseball in under 40 pages. Winter's found a very creative way to include baseball facts. On some pages what appears to be a baseball ticket - facts are placed. One fact - Koufax last season 1966 was the greatest of any pitcher. 27 -9 with a 1.73 ERA, 27 complete games and 5 shut outs. That line is crazy good. Young baseball fans will appreciate those numbers and the beauty of Koufax's fastball. The illustrations are wonderful. Its steeped in Dodger Blue throughout. I can't do the artist justice so check out what was said about him over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast If you've never heard of Sandy Koufax, there isn't a better introduction than this book. Loved it. There is so much action in this book it would make a great read aloud. You don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy it but it may turn a few young people into fans. Ages 5 up

8 comments:

Apryl DeLancey said...

Sounds like a winner to me!

Lori Calabrese said...

The art in this book is truly amazing!

All the best,
Lori
www.loricalabrese.com

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a really good book! Kids books are sometimes so much better than adult books on the same subjects! Thanks for the review!

Doret said...

Apryl - You will love this, its Dodger Blue all the way.

And Lori the art work is so great, I didn't even want to try and describe it.

Thanks for the comments ladies, and for my non sports followers I just did another baseball post for Baseball Talmud. I promise its my last sports post until the next one.

Summer said...

omg how strange. I'm in the middle of reading Out of the Pocket and they mentioned Sandy Koufax. Apparently he left the Dodgers because of rumors he was gay... in the book I was thinking to myself why does this football player know some random baseball player by name? I guess he's not too random. haha

Doret said...

LMAO @ calling Koufax a random baseball player. I've never heard this rumor but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The author of Out of Pocket is a sports journalist.

Doret said...

BTW Koufax had to retire early because he could have lost the use of his left arm if he didn't.

Summer said...

Haha I'm so clueless so it was random to me. Good to know... good facts. The more you read the more you know!