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Goodnight Hockey (Sports Illustrated Kids) Written by Michael Dahl Illustrated by Christina E. Forshay Capstone Young Readers     8/01/2015 978-1-62370-298-4 32 pages     age 4—8 “From the first puck drop to the final buzzer, Goodnight Hockey will have every hockey fan cheering. Rhyming text and energetic art perfectly capture the excitement and thrill of …

Goodnight Football (Sport Illustrated Kids)

by Michael Dahl & Christina Forshay, illustrator

Picture Window Books                 8/01//2014

an imprint of Capstone Young Readers & Capstone Books

978-1-62370-106-2

Age 4 to 7   32 pages

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“From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, Goodnight Football brings the excitement of a football game to the youngest fan. Rhyming text and vibrant illustrations capture the love of the game through a child’s eyes and celebrates the combination of football, friendship, and family.”

 Opening

“It’s the end of the week,

it’s the best of all sights—

beneath the night sky

lies a field of bright lights!”

The Story Game

Tonight the home team Grizzlies are playing the Thunderbirds. The crowd bundles up to stay warm as they cheer on their team. It’s the first down of the game and Grizzlies quarterback, number 10, takes the snap, then takes a seat. He’s sacked! In the huddle, what will the Grizzlies do next? Number 10 throws the football long. A Grizzly player zips ahead of a thunderbird, passing by the tackle attempt, reaches up for the ball, and catches it—in the end zone! TOUCHDOWN GRIZZLIES! Through four quarters the teams race up and down the field, play after play, score after score. The final seconds tick off the clock as a Grizzly player dodges the last Thunderbird, running the ball run into the end zone for a touchdown and the game. It’s a Grizzly win for the hometown fans!

Happy Grizzly fans empty out of the field. The family of four walk past the field. The coaches are shaking hands, the players are saying ‘good game’ to their opponents, and the band says goodnight to the cheerleaders. The little boy waves goodnight to number 10, who smiles and waves back. The family heads home, but not before saying goodnight, and there are many goodnights to say. At the concession stand for one last order, the young boy waves goodnight to a new friend. Then it is off to the tour bus for the ride home, but not before waving goodnight to the Grizzly mascot, a giant orange bear! Then it is, “Goodnight goal posts” and “Goodnight moon.” Finally, home, it is past time for bed. The young boy has but two goodnights left. “Goodnight Mom. Goodnight Dad.” Then he drifts off to sleep, snuggling his football, dreaming of the next game, and making the winning touchdown.

Review

Goodnight Football is the second bedtime sports adventure for young children from Sports Illustrated Kids. The first was Goodnight Baseball (review here). With Goodnight Football, the series has become multicultural. The African-American family is young with a small boy and girl. The boy is thrilled to be at the game. He waves to players, and smiles throughout the entire book, until bedtime when the yawns start in. I like that this is not the typical Caucasian family, as seen on the majority of kids’ books. The young boy is the one who says goodnight to everyone and everything. The game has exciting moments, nothing bad to sour the evening game. The home team is once again the winner and they probably will always win.

The cutest spread is the final one, with the young boy tucked into bed, eyes closed, snuggling his football. Having a younger brother who was football crazy at a young age I know the ending is realistic. Girls snuggle teddy bears; boys snuggle footballs and baseball gloves.

The colorful illustrations in Goodnight Football capture the game realistically. One spread in particular is the best. On the right side, the Grizzlies are in a huddle and the illustrator has you on the ground, looking up at the faces in the huddle. What is the play? That huddle is simply a nice image. On the left side, the sacked quarterback gets help rising to his feet. Just as these players do, the quarterback extends one hand to the player helping him up, who grabs the hand with both of his. The realistic image is terrific, but that is not why I love it so much. If you zoom into the middle of the image, right to the locked hands, you will see white hands helping up a black hand. I love the symbolism, which is why it is the best page in the book.

As with Goodnight Baseball, young boys, who will want dad to read the story at bedtime, will love Goodnight Football. The book introduces young kids to the game of football, gets them to notice the world around them, and make new friends. I love these sports books for the youngest boys. They are the ones who usually don’t get to play the game, but now they have something all their own. The story is an easy read, making it possible to read the story every night and not become annoyed with the book. Goodnight Football is a wonderful bedtime story for young boys, but some girls will love this story as well. Goodnight Football makes the perfect gift for young football fans.

GOODNIGHT FOOTBALL. Text copyright © 2014 by Michael Dahl. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Christina Forshay. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Capstone Young Readers, North Mankato, MN.

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Learn more about Goodnight Football HERE.

Pre-Order Goodnight Football at Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Capstone Books—your local bookstore.

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Meet the author, Michael Dahl, at his website:   http://www.michaeldahlwrites.com/

Meet the illustrator, Christina Forshay, at her website:    http://www.christinaforshay.com/

Find more books at the Capstone Young Readers website:    http://www.capstoneyoungreaders.com/

SI KIDS is a trademark of Time, Inc.       http://www.sikids.com/

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Also by Michael Dahl & Christina Forshay

Goodnight Baseball (Sports Illustrated Kids)

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Also by Michael Dahl

Book That Ate My Brother

In One Ear, Out the Other

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Also by Christina Forshay

The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare

Moxie

Our very own Michael Dahl has truly outdone himself this time. His epic fantasy tale involving trolls, teens, and the stars isn’t set to run wild until August 1st, but I thought I’d give our blog’s readers a sneak peek at what’s to come.

First off, we’ve already received a handful of glowing reviews, including this testimonial from School Library Journal. Kirkus Reviews cited the story's “Compulsive plot, non-stop action … fast-moving narrative [with] lots of suspense ... A page-turner.”

Another review compared the book to a younger version of the His Dark Materials series of books by Phillip Pullman (The Golden Compass, The Amber Spyglass, etc.). Good company, to say the least.

Last but definitely not least, nearly every review thus far has mentioned the amazing illustrations done by Ben Kovar. But don’t take my word for it, or theirs—judge for yourselves.

This ham above is my three-year-old, Isla. Like many three-year-olds, she no longer believes she needs a nap most weekends. But by 5 p.m. on the days she skips, the rest of the family strongly disagrees with her. My solution? I start by calling her "kitty". Then I invite her to her room, where I show her this irresistible cover:

And then together, we meow into a relaxed state. Before you know it, at least one of us is ready to nap . . . and sometimes it is even the right one!

When I was 8 years old, I purchased a 12-cent (!) DC comic with the book-length story “The Last Days of Superman.” This was not the amazing graphic-novel blockbuster of 1992, but the earlier Superman, issue 156, October 1962. I must have read that story about 35 times, weeping during the first 20. Of course, Superman didn’t die. How could he? Superman is invincible (except for kryptonite, but that’s not the point).

I thought of that story when I read a recent article in the December issue of School Library Journal. It was titled “Wanted: Male Models” and lamented the lack of male reading models for young children, especially for boys. We definitely need more men to read to their children, to spend more time curled up with a book rather than with a warm TV set or computer monitor. I agree with the writer —we need more male mentors. But I have seen them, and it’s usually at a comic book shop or in the graphic novel section at the local big-chain bookstore.

Wednesday is “new comic book” day across the country. Several of us from the Stone Arch office often visit one of our favorite comic book stores in the middle of the week, either to browse or to get that special issue we’ve been itching for. (For me, it was the new Metal Men by DC artist Duncan Rouleau.) Often, we see other guys there with their kids, all gazing at shiny new covers or vintage editions wrapped in protective plastic.

I frequent another comic shop in downtown Minneapolis, usually on the weekends. I always see dads, and often moms, accompanied by their bright-eyed kids, all of them excited and talking about some new manga adventure or superhero tale. The male models are out there. They are reading, although they may not be in the library. Yet.

Which, I guess, answers the question I posed at the beginning of this posting. Superman isn’t dead. He has a growing horde of new fans. And that makes me hopeful—about reading in general, and in particular, about the imaginations of the young. It also thrills me to partner with DC Comics in our new Super Hero line of original stories about Batman and Superman. This could pull back into the library some of those kids who were looking for their favorite reading material elsewhere. And for me to help create books with the same people who gripped me with their caped crusaders when I was 8 years old . . . wow!

Pastimes and hobbies and ways of spending time will change over the years, but we’ll always need stories. Kids are still reading about superheroes. Maybe they’re hidden in the back corner of a comic book store, or behind a spinner rack blooming with manga, but they are there, and they’re very much alive.


Michael Dahl
Editorial Director, Stone Arch Books

Our very own Michael Dahl was interviewed for a CBS news story on getting boys to read. The story aired Monday night on CBS in Austin, Texas.

You can read an article and see part of the interview here!

And let us know: how do YOU get boys to read?

Jon Scieszka has created a monster—a joyful, galumphing juggernaut called Guys Read. Ever since he launched his website, Scieszka has inspired teachers and librarians across the country to start their own Guys Read programs. On March 25th I was able to attend an all-day workshop on Scieszka’s brainchild, hosted by the Hennepin County Libraries and Stone Arch Books as part of the PLA preconference. The workshop couldn’t have been better organized. After Scieszka gave the opening remarks, we heard from public policy makers, politicians, lawyers, public librarians, mentors, fund-raisers, and parents of Guys Read programs from around the US. Their message was clear, focused, and overwhelming: Guys Read is a success. Boys want to read and will read if given the right material.

Scieszka warned us that we need to learn the language of boys. Boys think differently than the majority of librarians (whom he characterized as predominantly female and mostly middle-aged). One female librarian echoed Scieszka from her own experience, saying she had learned what not to say to a boys’ reading club. “Never ask them how they felt about the story,” she cautioned. “A lot of young boys don’t know how they feel about anything. Instead, ask them what they would have done if they had been in the story.” Boys prefer the hands-on, feet-on, jump-on approach. One librarian said his boys’ group created rituals to start and end each meeting. They have a march and a chant, and carry a flag created by one of the boys’ moms. Another club leader said he sometimes spends half the time playing football with his readers. The point is to make a Guys Read group fun, to teach boys to associate books and reading with pleasure and excitement. “This is not school,” says Scieszka. “There are no quizzes, no questions, no grades.” We also heard the responses from parents and grandparents, how reading had changed the lives of their boys.

During one of the breaks from the workshop, I wandered over to the chaotic PLA exhibit hall where the booths were being assembled, including ours. I visited with Heather Kindseth, Stone Arch Books’s creative director. As we talked, Jon Scieszka walked down our aisle. I stopped him and told him how much I enjoyed his books. Just an hour earlier he had mentioned that when thinking about books for boys, he paid attention to two things: the spine couldn’t be too thick, and the cover had to be eye-grabbing. He said he could tell, just by looking at the Stone Arch books, that we were on to something. “This is exactly what boys will want to pick up and read,” he said. Then he asked for one of our catalogs.

Scieszka has been made the first National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress. Spend a minute with him and you’ll know why. He’s approachable, he’s smart, he’s funny, and he’s passionate about getting kids to read. And Guys Read is an idea that anyone with an interest in boys and books can get behind. You can’t stop it. As Dr. Frankenstein said about another literary monster: “It’s alive!”


--Michael Dahl
Editorial Director, Stone Arch Books

Name: Michael Dahl

Occupation/role at Stone Arch Books: Editorial Director and Acquisitions. I oversee all the editorial operations at Stone Arch, including list planning, story development, and working closely with the editors. I also handle submissions from new authors, acquire manuscripts, and manage freelancers. I’m also the author of the Library of Doom series.

Years at Stone Arch Books: I joined Stone Arch a few months after it began, in 2005.

Education: I went to school at Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota, graduating with a BA in English Literature and Theater.

What's your favorite SAB book?
There are so many! I guess my favorite graphic novel (so far) is Journey to the Center of the Earth. I’ve loved Jules Verne since I was in 4th grade. The art for this book is fantastic; the sea monsters are truly awe-inspiring. My favorite high-interest novel is Spies, a David Mortimore Baxter book. David is such a charming, likable, and real kid, and this particular story is funny and serious and smart all at the same time.

What was your favorite book when you were a kid?
I read constantly as a kid. I even read the dictionary – for fun. Yes, I was that nerdy kid in class who knew the difference between entomology and etymology. Bugs and words, two of my favorite subjects at the time. I was also a big fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Pilgrim's Progress. But the book that made the biggest impact on me when I was in 5th grade, and beyond, was Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. She had me spellbound until the very last page. She was a genius.

What were you like as an elementary/middle-school student?
I was the bookworm. More like the book fanatic. Whenever I did a book report, I wrote it in the style of the book’s author. My teachers told me that I didn’t need to “embellish.” I really went overboard when I gave a presentation to the class on a book about ancient Egypt and asked for volunteers to be mummies.

What's your favorite thing to do in your free time?
Besides reading, you mean, right? Visiting graveyards and haunted houses. It’s an activity that combines history, biography, geography, the unexplained, and heaps of fresh air.

Tell us a memorable Stone Arch Books moment from the past year.
I was fortunate enough to speak at the EncycloMedia conference in Oklahoma City this past fall. I gave a presentation on graphic novels and how teachers can use them to get kids excited about reading and increase their comprehension skills. I was amazed when I walked into my room several minutes before the talk and found it was standing room only. It was a great audience. And afterwards, dozens of teachers and librarians told me that they had never considered adding graphic novels to their collections until they had attended that workshop. It was gratifying to be able to show people what an incredible new art form (and teaching tool) graphic novels have become.

What’s the best part of your job?
Working with a team of talented, creative people. I love brainstorming, collaborating with smart, enthusiastic editors, designers, authors, and illustrators, and creating something that we couldn’t do separately as individuals.

What’s the hardest part of your job?
Working with a team of talented, creative people.


This is the first in a multi-part series, which will spotlight the members of the Stone Arch Books staff. Drawing of Michael Dahl by Brann Garvey.

I’ve been walking around with my blood splattered copy of Hearsick for the last couple of days. It’s elicited some interesting looks and comments from my coworkers. “Why does you book have a bloody hand print on it?” being the least of the questions.

The dark red blood spots and prints on the stark white cover are startling in appearance. Beautiful from a design standpoint, but not a common look for most books (it’s no wonder my coworkers notice and comment on it), but it got me thinking.

What is the first thing you notice when you see someone reading a book?

The first thing I notice is, hey, a book. Not an iPod or a Blackberry or a cell. A thing with words and pages, egad!

It doesn’t matter what the book is text/genre/manual, my interest is immediately captured. I try to guess what it is or catch a glimpse of the cover. I study the reader’s face, and watch how they react to the words they are reading. Is it funny or sad? Does the reader look bored?

Next I move on to the size and condition of the book. Hardback, trade or mass market? Does it look well-read and used or new? Is there a sticker that indicates where it came from?

When I was a bookseller this information was important, and I would use it to generate an order list or figure out how many people bought their books from my store. My MAX rides were lessons in observation and detection (not to mention filled with amusing sights from Portland life) and this book attentiveness (if you will) boiled over into my everyday life. Now it doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing, if I see someone reading I want to know what it is, I want to know why they’re reading it, and I want to know if they’re enjoying the moment.

That enjoyment is what keeps me from walking up and just asking, of course. Also why I try not to blatantly stare as it tends to freak people out and then they would get up and move, keeping me from figuring out what they are reading.

Anyway, my little book games aside, what is the first thing you notice about the book when you see someone reading?