Live and Kicking: Betty Bunny Wants a Goal by Michael Kaplan

Betty Bunny was a handful.

She knew this because at her very first practice, when she picked up the ball and ran with it, her coach said, "Betty Bunny, you are a handful."

Betty Bunny wants what she wants when she wants it.

And now that she's on a soccer team, she doesn't want to set herself a goal; she wants to score a goal and she wants it NOW!

Brother Henry whines about having to go to Betty's games. Teen brother Bill rolls his eyes and smirks.

"There probably won't be any goals," 

And Bill is right, at least about Betty's scoring prowess. Betty discovers she can't kick anything, except, inexplicably, her own foot. Back home, Betty stuffs her uniform into her trash can and launches into a full-time funk. Sister Kate gives her the old "try, try again" speech and reminds her that at the end of the season everybody gets a trophy, "no matter how bad she plays." Reluctantly, Betty fishes her jersey out of the trash.

But the next game is no better.

"I tried and tried, just like you said, Kate," Betty moaned.

"Maybe you're just not that good!" points out big brother Bill.

Mom and Dad are tired of Betty's moaning and Bill's snarky remarks. They decree that Betty will finish the season and that Bill will coach her every day after school.

"Why can't I learn to keep my big mouth shut?" Bill said.

"Maybe you need to practice," suggested Betty helpfully.

Practice doesn't make perfect, but Betty progresses and finally does score her goal.

Next to the first time she tried chocolate cake, it was the the happiest moment of her life.

In Michael Kaplan's latest Betty Bunny tale, Betty Bunny Wants a Goal (Dial Books, 2014), the fun comes from interplay between the impetuous and annoying Betty and her sister and two brothers. Sister Kate tries to mentor her insistent little sister, while Henry and Bill can't quite help lapsing into sarcastic side comments, while the parents preside over the siblingitis with perturbed patience. Stephanie Jorisch's frenetic illustrations cleverly portray the ebb and flow of emotions that swirl around Betty, a one-bunny vortex of energy who sucks the whole household into her high-maintenance manias. Preschoolers will understand Betty's whirlwind drive to have it all, and older kids and parents will enjoy the humorous interplay between the rest of the characters drawn into Betty's turbulent wake.

Other books in the Betty Bunny series include Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake (see review here) and sequels, Betty Bunny Wants Everything, Betty Bunny Is Very Busy, and Betty Bunny Didn't Do It.

Kick Off: Madlenka, Soccer Star by Peter Sis

THE WHOLE WORLD WANTS TO PLAY SOCCER.

And so does Madlenka.

Madlenka dreams of stardom, and when she sets forth down her city street with her brand-new ball, even the tall mailbox tries to joins in the game with her. And when his stubby steel legs can't keep up with the matchless Madlenka, the wandering neighborhood cats come together, magically donning little uniforms to try to stop her goal, but she is too quick for them as well.

At last Madlenka comes upon her friend Cleopatra, and the real game is on!

ARE YOU READY? PASS THE BALL!

Caldecott artist Peter Sis (for The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Caldecott Honor Book)) and Tibet Through the Red Box (Caldecott Honor Book) takes his character out and about with her new ball for a pickup game that could happen anywhere around the globe. Sis, whose stylized drawings have earned him many honors, including the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award for The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards), again utilizes his characteristic square-within-a-square design to good effect in his latest, Madlenka Soccer Star, (Francis Foster Books, 2010), as Madlenka's small city block expands to include the whole world of soccer.

Whether it's called footie, futbol, ibhola, futubolo, or fodbold, or kwallon, this ball never stops rolling.