T Is for Touchdown: A Football Alphabet

by Brad Herzog, Mark Braught (Illustrator)

The sounds of autumn include the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot and the thump of the kickoff starting the first home football game. Sleeping Bear Press is proud to continue our bestselling sports series with Tis for A Football Alphabet. Sports writer Brad Herzog's easy-to-read-aloud rhymes engage even the youngest of readers, while hardcore fans can devour the detailed expository that covers the sport of the pigskin, from A-Z and end zone to end zone. Plays and players are just a few of the topics covered. Brad Herzog's first job as a newspaper sports reporter allowed him to travel with the Cornell University football team. He has been writing about the game ever since. A past Grand Gold Medal Award winner from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Brad has written more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction children's books. Brad lives on California's Monterey Peninsula. Mark Braught's sixteen years of professional experience has earned him prestigious awards from The American Advertising Federation (ADDY), Communications Art, the NYArt Directors Club, and the Society of Illustrators, to name a few. He lives in Commerce, Georgia. Touchdown is his third book with Sleeping Bear Press.

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

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 2004

About the author

Brad Herzog is the author of more than 50 books for readers of all ages. His children's books include two charmingly illustrated picture books about two of the most inspiring moments in championship sports history -- the 2016 Chicago Cubs World Series triumph (MURPHY'S TICKET, Sleeping Bear Press, 2017) and the 1913 U.S. Open golf tournament (FRANCIS AND EDDIE, Why Not Books, 2013). He has written more than a dozen rhyming alphabet picture books for Sleeping Bear Press, including H IS FOR HOME RUN, S IS FOR SAVE THE PLANET (a finalist in the National "Best Books 2009" Awards) and W IS FOR WELCOME: A CELEBRATION OF AMERICA'S DIVERSITY, which is sold at the Statue of Liberty Pavilion.

Brad is also the author of four critically acclaimed narratives about his travels through small-town America. His first travel memoir, STATES OF MIND (John F. Blair Publishing, 1999), reached #2 on the Amazon.com bestseller list. He followed that with SMALL WORLD (Pocket Books, 2004) and TURN LEFT AT THE TROJAN HORSE (Citadel Press, 2010). DETOUR 2020 (Why Not Books, 2020) is his cross-country chronicle of "America's wrong turns."

As a freelance magazine writer, Brad has been honored several times by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), including a Grand Gold Medal for best feature article of the year. He has been interviewed on "The Today Show" and "Oprah" and has been profiled in publications ranging from People magazine to Reader's Digest. Brad (www.bradherzog.com) lives on California's Central Coast.

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for my toddler at Nashville library while traveling.

[Spencer Messinger]

Book about football from A-Z

[Maudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre:Informative text
Grade:3-5
This book is filled with a lot of information that will interest young children who love football just as much as I do.This book has all types of fun facts and they are all in alphabetical order. Fun way to integrate reading into football fans lives especially if they don't like reading in the first place.

[Elly Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: informational nonfiction
Grade Level: k-1

The alphabet layout is fun for these types of books because it talks about everything in a fun way. Kids will keep wanting to read it and learn more about it, and there's actually quite a bit of information on each page.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis: "Illustrated by Mark BraughtThe sounds of autumn include the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot and the thump of the kickoff starting the first home football game. Sleeping Bear Press is proud to continue our bestselling sports series with "Tis for Touchdown: A Football Alphabet. "Sports writer Brad Herzog's easy-to-read-aloud rhymes engage even the youngest of readers, while hardcore fans can devour the detailed expository that covers the sport of the pigskin, from A-Z and end zone to end zone. Plays and players are just a few of the topics covered."

My Review: We are big NFL fans in our house and it is playoff season. We like to encourage Munchkin in all various interests but we do like to help him find a connection with what is on TV in the house. So I had to pick this book up, being football season and he is learning his ABCs. I like how this book features all levels of the sport and various players, it doesn't seem to favor any one team (though a few are mentioned specifically). This book also features a more detailed history of the item with each letter, while it is way more advanced that a children's book, it is something that Munchkin can cherish throughout time.

[Katelyn Youngblood · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're in love with the sport of football as much as this southern girl is, this book is the perfect way to teach the basics of the game! While each page contains a letter of the alphabet, (starting with A on page one) each letter describes an aspect of the game. With each letter and word that is portrayed, there is also background information describing what that word means and where it came from. This book is great for teaching children the different roles that come into play with football. Although it is informative, it does so in a way that can be easily understood by children. Along with the written information that is given, the illustrations on each page also do a great job in depicting what alphabet word means. This book is great and I highly recommend it to any sports fan!

[Jaycee Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I love football and any and everything that has to do with the game. I thought it was amazing that the author was able to come up with something for each letter of the alphabet that had to do with football. There were actually multiple things under each letter. This book made me smile because I was able to reminisce back to Friday night football games. I think it would be a fun book to read in a classroom and it would relate to many of the little boys and the girls that attend the boy's games or their brother's games.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for a football fanatic like my son! It has great illustrations and a short simple few lines of text for each letter of the alphabet - BUT it also has a lot of additional information in smaller print on each page and letter so that you can learn a lot more about the history and rules of the game. We loved it.

[Destiny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I like the connection to sport that I know the class I am i know would love. I also like that it explains each of the letters that they write about. They introduce a word in context but then the explain it in more detail tan the short poem would allow. It's a fun way to talk about interests in the class or to teach the sport.

[Bvlmc Buchanan Verplanck Elementary School · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emerging readers will enjoy this alphabet based book of football vocabulary. In addition to the simple text, side boxes provide more detailed descriptions of the highlighted football term as well as other terms beginning with the featured letter.

[Emilee Wirth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, there was a lot of creative ways to come up with the A,B,C's in football terms. It also had extension reading if the person wanted to do that as well. I really enjoyed it.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the young sports enthusiast.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite sport is football and hockey. I enjoyed the book as it explored the past of football and the rules as well.

[Ashley Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only does this book go over the alphabet, it also talks about the different aspects of the game. This book is a great addition to classroom library, especially for boys.