Kid Konnection: Stats!

Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. This week, I'm going to share with you a book that is very near and dear to Booking Son's heart.

Summary: Count up the most fascinating numbers behind sports’greatest moments in STATS! The Greatest Numbers in Sports, a brand new book from TIME Home Entertainment and Sports Illustrated Kids. STATS! The Greatest Numbers in Sports (Sports Illustrated Kids books, $16.95 USD), which goes on sale July 23, 2013 at sikids.com/statsbook and wherever books are sold, is filled with need-to-know stats, engaging infographics,and cool trivia for every sports fan.

This 128-page book reveals loads of amazing facts behind the most astonishing records and numbers in all of sports. Facts such as 21—the number of seconds it took Chicago Blackhawks right wing Bill Mosienko to score a hatrick, 59^1/3—the number of consecutive scoreless innings thrown by pitching great Orel Hershiser, 27 - the approximate speed of Usian Bolt when he set the 100m world record, and 40 - the number of regular season records held or shared by Wayne Gretzky.

“Great sporting accomplishments are always told through amazing statistics,” said Bob Der, Managing Editor of Sports Illustrated Kids. “Sport is a game of numbers. But it’s the story behind these numbers that really sparks a child’s interest, and personal connection with sports, and the athletes that champion them.”

In addition, STATS! covers history’s great athletic accomplishments, including sport’s:

• Unbreakable records: Late New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio compiled what is considered one of sport’s most untouchable records, the 56 game hit-streak.

• Amazing Feats: Former Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki played 10 consecutive seasons with at least 200 hits. The only other player with 10 200-hit seasons in MLB history is Pete Rose, who accomplished the feat over a span of 15 years.

• Champions: Celtic great Bill Russell led his Boston basketball team to a mind-boggling 8 consecutive NBA championships. He ended his career with 11 championships in his 13 year playing career—the most by any professional athlete in history.

• Fast and Furious Benchmarks: 0.01, one one-hundredth of a second, was the margin of victory for Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. His narrow win sealed his seventh of eight total gold medals at the games—the most won by any athlete in a single Olympiad.

• Odd Numbers: The most expensive ticket price for Super Bowl I was $12 dollars. These days, that could only buy you a hot-dog and a soda at concessions!

Beyond the numbers, the colorful book features amazing Sports Illustrated photography and SI Kids' insider knowledge tailor-made for young sports fans. Stats, facts, and great action photos all add up to one thing: a fun book for sports fans of any age. -- Sports Illustrated Kids

To say that Booking Son is a sport fan is an understatement. He is pretty much obsessed with all-things sports. The very first thing he does in the morning is turn on Sports Center and then he scrambles to the computer to check out baseball scores from the prior night. And don't even get me started on Fantasy Football! He is participating in his first father/son fantasy league this year, and I dare say the dads better watch out! Booking Son knows his stuff!!!

So when I saw that Sports Illustrated Kids has a new book out called STATS! THE GREATEST NUMBERS IN SPORTS, I just knew it would be perfect for him. When it arrived, he immediately ran off with it and I don't know if he came up for air until he skimmed through the entire book. He was extremely excited about STATS! and I am pretty sure he had the entire book read within a day or two. (That's not too shabby for my sometimes reluctant reader!)

I am a pretty big sports fan myself, so I totally understand his enthusiasm for this book. It truly is so much fun and perfect for young sports enthusiasts. In fact, the entire look and feel of STATS! is geared towards kids. This book has lots of exciting color photographs of sports stars along with big, bold numbers for the "stats." The text is also fairly big so the specifics on the records is clear and concise.

STATS! is even divided into fun chapter headings. There are sections for "Unbreakable Records" like Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game, along with "Amazing Feats," "Champions," "Fast and Furious," and "Odd Numbers." There is also an index with names, teams, etc. listed which will definitely come in handy when Booking Son is trying to quote a record to one of his friends.

STATS! is a who's who of sports. There are records and statistics for many athletes in a wide variety of sports. I appreciated that many of the statistics were recent and Booking Son was able to remember when they occurred. However, I liked it even more that some of the records have been around for a long-time and give readers a perspective on the history of sports. For example, STATS! shows that Cy Young has 511 career wins and how it would be almost impossible for that record to ever be broken.

In addition to stats about famous athletes, STATS! has some other fun facts and figures. One page shows all of the major sports' trophies and gives the weight for each one! And another fun fact is that there are 147,500,000,000,000,000,000 possible ways to fill out a 68-team NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket. That's 147.5 quintillion in case you were wondering!

STATS! is a terrific book for the young sports enthusiast! Highly recommended!

Thanks to Goodman Media for providing a review copy of this book.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!