My Weird School Fast Facts: Sports

My Weird School Fast Facts

by Dan Gutman, Jim Paillot (Illustrator)

Think fast with A.J. and Andrea from My Weird School!

Did you know that the only sport that’s been played on the moon is golf? Did you know that an NFL quarterback once threw a touchdown pass to himself?!

Learn more weird-but-true sports facts with A.J. and Andrea from Dan Gutman’s bestselling My Weird School series. This all-new series of nonfiction books features hundreds of hysterical facts, plus lots of photos and illustrations.

Whether you’re a kid who wants to know more about sports or just someone who is curious why Major League Baseball umpires have to wear black underwear, this is the book for you!

With more than 30 million books sold, the My Weird School series really gets kids reading!

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Childrens

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 21, 2016

About the author

The author of over 80 books in a little over a decade of writing, Dan Gutman has written on topics from computers to baseball. Beginning his freelance career as a nonfiction author dealing mostly with sports for adults and young readers, Gutman has concentrated on juvenile fiction since 1995. His most popular titles include the time-travel sports book Honus and Me and its sequels, and a clutch of baseball books, including The Green Monster from Left Field. From hopeful and very youthful presidential candidates to stunt men, nothing is off limits in Gutman's fertile imagination. As he noted on his author Web site, since writing his first novel, They Came from Centerfield, in 1994, he has been hooked on fiction. "It was fun to write, kids loved it, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a WORLD."

Gutman was born in New York City in 1955, but moved to Newark, New Jersey the following year and spent his youth there.

Reviews

[Robin Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually received a ARC [Advance Reader’s Copy] for My Weird School Fast Facts about Geography through a Goodreads giveaway in return for my honest opinion.

What made this ARC particularly interesting is that it was a FLIP ARC, meaning if you turned the book over you had a second ARC. The second ARC dealt with Sports.

Unless you’re truly interest in knowing facts concerning a specific topic, fact books can be extremely boring to read. This can be especially true when it comes to intended audience of readers, children between the ages of 6 – 10.

Taking two characters, A.J. and Andrea from his My Weird School Series of books Dan Gutman has written a skillfully crafted dialogue in which facts about Sports flow smoothly from one fact into another. The illustrations and photos add to the educational experience for its young readers for which I’ve given this book 5 STARS.

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried my best not to skim over some parts (I'm not the biggest soccer or hockey fan), but there was a lot of info packed in this book! Recommended to anyone who loves sports and spouting off fun facts.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My junior high students are going to love this book. I'm not a sports fan, but I've had a lot of fun sharing the trivia with my husband. The sign of a good book is that you want to share what you are reading with others. My edition of the book which I received in a Goodreads giveaway has both the sports and geography versions in one book. The kids will enjoy the fact that you read the sports half of the book and then turn the book over and upside down to read the geography book. I understand the books will be part of a series by Dan Gutman. His books are always popular in our school library. I will be ordering hardbound copies of all of them as they are released.

I'm a geography fan so this is what originally drew my attention to the book. What weird facts do I hope to remember from this section of the book?

Great Britain is a group of three countries. The United Kingdom is four countries including England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. (p. 43)

The bristlecone pine which is found in California is the world's oldest tree. Its location is kept secret to prevent tourists from damaging the tree. (p. 101)

"Every Chinese Citizen over eleven years old has to plant at least three trees every year." (p. 104)

I loved all of chapter six that lists geography trivia from every state and Washington, D.C. I live in Nevada and didn't know that it was the most mountainous state. (p. 120) I didn't know that Sand Mountain is called the "singing sand dune" because of weird noises caused by the grains of sand rubbing against each other. (p. 120) It's a popular spot for dune buggy racing. I wonder how many of those off-road enthusiasts have heard the sound of the dunes "singing"?

I didn't know that the capital of the United States was moved from New York City to Philadelphia and then to its present location Washington, D.C.

The book contains great illustrations by Jim Paillot and photographs that greatly add to the pleasure of reading both the geography and sports versions of the series. I highly recommend the My Weird School Fast Facts series.

[Mymcbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review: Another fun book that the kids will love to read.
A.J. and his gang from My Weird School are back and this time the study of discussion is  Fast Facts about Sport.
 
 
 
FTC Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book HarperCollins Publishing in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion in any way.

[BookNightOwl · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute I read it to my children for March reading month. The school provided this book for our family to read together. I enjoyed reading the fun facts. My children liked it too.

[Christine H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love learning random facts, though I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always remember what I’ve learned. If you’re into geography, sports, or random trivia, you’ll find Dan Gutman’s My Weird School Fast Facts: Sports a very awesome read.

Squinklethoughts

1. Are you already a fan of Gutman’s My Weird School (and My Weirder School and My Weird School Daze) series, which began in 2004? My students love these stories, which are full of memorable characters and funny dialogue. We particularly enjoy their rockin’ rhymin’ titles like Mrs. Yonkers is Bonkers! and Mr. Harrison is Embarrassin’!.

2. In both Geography and Sports, you get to hang out with A.J. and Andrea outside of school. Their very different personalities make for great banter between them. I’d like to think that they are still friends-ish even though they bother the heck out of each other a lot.

3. You’ll love learning about how “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” began and why Ulrich Salchow’s and Alois Lutz’ names are mentioned very often in the winter.

4. I particularly enjoyed how Gutman assigns the chapters based on different sports. The one on baseball is really long, so my only disappointment is that the other chapters (like the one on hockey) were just as long. I am glad that curling and table tennis were mentioned though! And I loved learning lots of cool stuff about the Olympics.

5. Jim Paillot’s artwork is phenomenal. You’ll enjoy the the drawings on each page that help bring Arlo’s and Andrea’s narrations come to life. Definitely check out his website!

This review originally appeared on my blog, Squinklebooks.

[Chelsea P · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Weird School Fast Facts; Sports by Dan Gutman the first chapter of this book is about Baseball left-handed throwers are called southpaws because " Back in the days when baseball was played mostly in the afternoon ball fields were laid out so the setting sun would not shine in the batters eyes. For this reason home plate was positioned to the west. Facing the plate the pitchers left hand was on the south side so lefty pitchers came to be called southpaws." Did you know how the Atlanta braves became the Atlanta brave, they started in Boston they were called the red stockings then the red caps then Boston braves but they switched the the Boston bees then became the braves again. The 2nd chapter threw the 7th chapter was about other sports did you know that footballs are called pigskins but they are actually made of cow skin. In soccer it is not unusual for soccer players to run six miles during a single game. Basketball was invented when some guy nailed two peach baskets up on a wall at both of the ends of a gym and used a soccer ball for something to shoot with. There are so many other sports to talk about there's most of the popular ones. The theme for this month was learn something new and I learned lots of new things reading that book. I rate this book 5 stars it gave lots of new information that I have never new before. I would recommend this book for anyone that likes sports.

[Our Weekend Is Booked · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is narrated by Arlo and a girl that really annoys him named Andrea. They have some serious banter and they throw in some seriously interesting facts to learn. The more random the fact the more my son loves it.

So what sort of interesting facts have we learned? Here are just a few of our favorites.

* Finland has a sport called wife carrying. The author suggests watching YouTube videos of it and they do exist and it's amusing. Basically the husband carries his wife on his back while completing an obstacle course.

* Snail racing is another random sport that is popular in England. It's a weird fact and of course the weirder the facts the more we love them.

* Did you know that the tallest player in NBA history was 7 feet 7 inches? Well, now you do.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my 3rd and 5th grader when we could find time. It’s filled with tons of fascinating facts about sports and it’s told in an informative and humorous way. We all gave it 4 Stars. Why does home plate have 5 sides? was extremely interesting. This would be a good read aloud for the classroom during our upcoming Winter Olympics (Chapter 10). Dan Gutman made two My Weird School books like this as well-I bought those too (MWS Geography and MWS Explorers, Presidents, and Toilets) and intend to read them as well.

[Ana Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the book because there are many weird facts about different sports. The one weird fact I love in the books is that, in the caveman days, the caveman was going to kill a dinosaur with a club.Then another cave man threw rocks at him with no reason. Then the first caveman saved himself with the club and that is how the baseball sport started!!! This book is really awesome.

[David Rough · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fast paced series of facts for young readers is entertaining and informational. The gambit of sports are covered with weird, crazy, and strange events were communicated. This would be a good read for any sports-minded young reader

[Karen & Gerard · Rating 5 out of 5]

SMost sports are covered, but I noticed pickleball was not included. I especially liked the baseball and basketball facts, but enjoyed the whole book. I liked that at the end it encourages kids to search the internet for their own weird facts about a subject that interest them. (Karen's review)

[Katlin Thurston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

[Melissa Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 8 year old son loved this book. He's super into sports and really enjoyed all the facts he learned while reading!

[Ally M · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Weird School Fast Facts by Dan Gutman, was about lots of weird facts about tons of sports. Chapter one is about baseball and one weird fact about baseball is that major league umpires have to wear black underwear during games. In chapter two it talks about football one interesting fact about football is an NFL quarter back once threw a touchdown pass to himself. Chapter three is about soccer and an interesting fact about soccer is that soccer was illegal in Mississippi untill 1991. Chapter four is all about basketball, an interesting fact about basketball is that a long time ago every time a player scored someone had to climb up on a ladder to get the ball out of the basket. Chapter five talks about hockey and one interesting fact about hockey is that in 1995 the fans threw thirty six octopuses onto the ice in one game. Chapter six is all about golf, an interesting fact about golf is that it is the only sport that has been played on the moon. In chapter seven it talks about automobile racing and an interesting fact about automobile racing is that a race car driver can lose up to ten pounds during a race just by sweating. Chapter eight is all about speed. And chapter nine is about other sports. Chapter ten is about the Olympics and one interesting fact about the Olympics is that the gold medals are actually only made out of one percent gold finish. Chapter eleven is about more weird sports facts. It connects to the theme learn something new because you can learn a lot of facts about sports. I rate this book 5 stars because I like learning about sports so it was pretty interesting to me. I recommend this book to anyone who likes sports a lot because it will teach them all about sports. That is all about the book My Weird School Fast Facts by Dan Gutman.

[Pop Bop · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Fairly Amusing Mix of Sports Factoids for "My Weird School" Fans

This book reads just like one of the "My Weird School" books. Depending on how much you like that series that will probably pretty much determine how much you like this non-fiction grab bag entry. A.J. makes silly jokes, insults Andrea, and generally acts out in A.J. fashion. Andrea soldiers on, tossing the occasional zinger at A.J. but basically trying to deliver a straight story.

If your young reader knows and loves the "My Weird School" series and the A.J. and Andrea characters then this book will probably appeal. It's fact based rather than a school daze adventure, but it has all of the energy and silliness of one of the "My Weird School" books. Because of the heavy emphasis on the A.J. and Andrea interaction, if your reader doesn't know that series then the book might feel a little confused. Then again, since it's just sports facts organized by sports categories it's not like the narrators are that important.

Unlike the other book in this series, ("Geography"), there is no attempt to offer an introduction to some scientific topic. This is a collection of factoids and designed to be read like a really young reader bathroom book. The chapters include baseball, football, soccer, basketball, hockey, golf, auto racing and the Olympics and tend to focus on the fastest, longest, highest, and weirdest facts, which makes sense.

My first impression was that the book was awfully light on facts, and mostly just a Weird School variant. And at least for me the unrelentingly smartmouth A.J., (and his "dumbhead" comments), gets old pretty fast. But, as I thought about it and considered the reading audience, (second to third or fourth grade?), I came to see that this book is more clever and informative than I at first gave it credit. And weird facts may be the way to go for a younger audience. After all, most young readers are only going to have a glancing familiarity with these sports and so you have to keep the jokes and the facts pretty basic.

Sometimes the need to be silly, and the A.J. and Andrea byplay, obscures the info that's being shared, but for the most part the various bits are informative and engaging. The illustrations are simple line drawings, (supplemented by occasional photos), but they actually work well to complement the info or to amuse the reader.

The upshot is that this book feels silly , but for a kid who likes the "My Weird School" vibe and wants to read some entertaining sports related non-fiction this seems a nice choice.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast Facts: Sports has chapters devoted to the biggies: baseball, football, soccer, basketball, hockey, golf, and auto racing. Other chapters include facts about speed records; other sports, like skating, skiing, bowling, and tennis; the Olympics, and a wrap-up of other weird sports facts. You want to know why umpires have to wear black underwear? The answer’s in here. Like Fast Facts: Geography, Fast Facts: Sports is loaded with photos, statistics and fun facts, and black and white illustrations by My Weird School illustrator Jim Paillot.

The Fast Facts books are fun. The Sports books will be popular with kids who are fans of the series or just sports fans in general; it’s a good companion book for kids who love wacky facts and ephemera. The Geography book is a good companion book that you can booktalk when kids come in with a geography project – it’s a companion book, an additional book, but the My Weird School brand will make sure it gets read, and maybe, just maybe, inspire a reader to explore an interesting topic.

Kids love My Weird School and all its offshoots. These are the second and third books in a nonfiction series (the first, My Weird Writing Tips, was published in 2013). Having some nonfiction feature popular characters hopefully spikes some interest.

[Ms. Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review....

This is a entertaining yet wildly education book for kids (older elementary, middle school ages). I skimmed through it and found it to be very amusing and adorable. It is full of goofy pictures that will captivate kids interest. The facts are kept brief and simple, but still very kid-friendly. This is a great book for those young'uns who wants a sneak peak into their favorite athletes lives.

[Raven Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if you know a lot of sports facts you might learn a few things! Should not be used as the only reference for a report or as the only book you get information from, but is a great start to whet the appetite of any young sports fan.

[Great Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learn hundreds of weird-but-true sports facts about baseball, soccer, hockey and more with A.J. and Andrea from the My Weird School series.
Reviewer 1

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asher (10yo) read. "Very interesting. It told me a lot of things I did not know about sports - even my favorite one: soccer! I wish Ken Jennings made a book like this."

[Luke]

I liked it and learned facts about sports.