For the Love of the Game: Michael Jordan and Me (Trophy Picture Books (Paperback)) - Softcover

Greenfield, Eloise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0064435555 ISBN 13: 9780064435550

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

Synopsis

This inspiring poem encourages children to view life with the same determination and passion that Michael Jordan displays in how he plays basketball. By listening to their inner voice and looking to those who love and support them, children can find their own way to fly. Distinguished poet Eloise Greenfield and celebrated artist Jan Spivey Gilchrist honor the beauty of the human spirit and offer a timeless message that will resonate with readers young and old.

About this title

About the Author

Eloise Greenfield's love of writing shines through brilliantly in each and every one of her books, which include Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems and How They Got Over: African Americans and the Call of the Sea, both illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. She is the recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, the Foundation for Children's Literature Hope S. Dean Award, and the National Council for the Social Studies Carter G. Woodson Book Award. In 2018 she received the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Ms. Greenfield lives in Washington, DC. You can follow her on Twitter @ELGreenfield.

Jan Spivey Gilchrist is the award-winning illustrator-author of seventy-four children's books. Dr. Gilchrist illustrated the highly acclaimed picture book The Great Migration: Journey to the North, winner of the Coretta Scott King Honor Award, a Junior Library Guild Best Book, an NAACP Image Award nominee, a CCBC Best Book, and a Georgia State Children's Book Award nominee. She won the Coretta Scott King Award for her illustrations in Nathaniel Talking and a Coretta Scott King Honor for her illustrations in Night on Neighborhood Street, all written by Eloise Greenfield. She was inducted into the Society of Illustrators in 2001 and into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent in 1999. She lives near Chicago, Illinois.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4. A distinguished poet and artist have combined their talents once again in a book that celebrates the human spirit in poetic words and powerful visual images. Starting with the image of a young Michael Jordan following his dream onto the basketball court, the poem then focuses on two children, a boy and girl, overcoming the "voices/of naysayers/You can't, too hard,/you can't" to find the strength within themselves to follow their own dreams: "I take my stance/I make my move./For the love of the game/of my life/I live." The vibrant watercolors show a Michael Jordan who is as large as life. The children are depicted in their pajamas, in keeping with the dreamlike feel of the art and text. Throughout the illustrations, an eagle is shown hovering in the background, dramatizing the gravity-defying moves of the athlete and the need for the children to find their own wings: "I listen to my heart/beating my rhythm." The overall effect is a powerful blending of words and pictures that delivers a message that needs to be heard by children growing up in a hostile world.?Connie C. Rockman, formerly at Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0064435555
• ISBN 13: 9780064435550
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Gilchrist Jan Spivey