The Fastest Game on Two Feet: And Other Poems About How Sports Began

by Alice Low, John O'Brien (Illustrator)

Have you ever wondered how your favorite sports began?

Skiing got its start when our ancestors, tired of crashing through snowdrifts, strapped animal bones to their feet. The history of other sports is just as surprising—the original soccer ball was a skull; bowling was part of an early religious ritual; and lacrosse games initially stretched for miles and lasted for days.

Alice Low's witty and fascinating poems are vividly illustrated by John O'Brien's clever and hilarious cartoons—hitting a true home run for young readers. Includes a time line of sports history.

Genres: Poetry, Sports, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2009

Reviews

[Alex Onslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

grade: 2-8

As a sports enthusiast, i really loved this book. sports have been my life since I was born. I really enjoyed this book because it has a poem about almost a dozen different sports, and at times, pokes fun at them. I also really liked how the author incorporated historical refrences for some of these sports and where they came from. ALSO! The illustrations are HILARIOUS- incorporating what the poem is talking about but also the historical aspects of the sport.

Focus: poems/ sports

[Madelaine Ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a Kick!! The author of The Fastest game on Two Feet writes how sports originally began in poems. If you are interested in sports this is the book for you! It has beautiful and detailed illustrations with little to no white space. The characters in this book each play a different sport and exemplify how it originated! This book is a must for the young athletes in the classroom!

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m just not interested in sports, but I know students who
Will like this book.

[Kaley Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal reaction- I liked this book! I haven't put much thought into where sports were created, so this was an interesting way of taking the sports we enjoy and put them into academic reading. The poems most rhyme so it makes it easier to read and understand. The illustrations take up most of the page, so its very entertaining to read. The poems themselves are funny, and the illustrations add to the humor. I liked theres 20 different sports, not just six or eight most people think about.

Purposes
Read aloud for enrichment
-Rich vocabulary- each poem is filled with higher level vocabulary that really adds to the poem. These would be great poems to have students try and figure out what words mean and then go back and read the poem once students have a grasp on all the vocabulary.
-Students can relate to these poems by having played sports or even just being in gym class. These poems would be good to revisit before gym or a time of year like the World Cup or March Madness.
-These poems might interest boys especially since its about being rough and the sports that most of them play (even if its a video game)
Read aloud for academic reasons
-Illustrations are very well done - students could draw a picture to what their mind thinks of when they hear the poem (The poem themselves use very visual words)
-These poems would be easy for students to recreate in their head, or to make a poem out of research they may have done. These book is set up in a way where the author wrote background information about the sport, then wrote a poem about it. Students could research any topic or something sports related and put their findings into a poem.

[Luann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This contains 20 poems about various sports and how they began. Each poem also has an introductory paragraph, which I actually found more interesting than the poem in most cases. The illustrations are just okay, some mildly humorous, although they do go along well with the poems. This is an interesting idea for a book, and I did learn some new facts about several sports. My favorite poems were about bicycling, basketball, and surfing. The author also includes additional information in an author's note and a time line at the end of the book.

[Annie Combest-friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book combined two unlikely ideas which were sports and poetry. Through this book, it could introduce a style of art to students who are athletically inclined. The structure of the book included sports history then it put sports into verses that were easy to read. I would keep this on my book shelf to create a well rounded library. The sports were all land sports that were popular which includes skiing to cross country running and school sports.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of poems about the origin of various sports. The illustrations are neat and you just might learn something about a sport that you didn't know before: the frisbee was invented on a college campus when people started throwing pie tins through the air.

[Janet Squires]

In addition to the often humorous verse, Low includes facts and a timeline about the origin of the sports that range from gymnastics to golf, basketball to bowling. O'Brien's lively ink and watercolor illustrations are a happy addition to the text.

[Candi]

Ages 6-10

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't much care for the poems in this book but I did like the tidbits of trivia concerning the origin of various sports.

[Logan Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is full of poetry about how different sports began and came about. The poetry was sometimes hard to follow, but the information was great.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute informational book on how almost all sports started. Would be a great book for a short interesting history lesson!

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was full of fascinating details about the invention of sports. Many of the poems were funny. Educational and entertaining!