Super sports stories for kids by Patrick Loughlin

Random House, 2015. ISBN 9780857989666
(Age: Primary) Recommended. Patrick Loughlin begins his collection of 12 short stories by confessing he wasn't very good at sports and explains that some of the stories in the novel are based on his personal experiences.
Super sports stories for kids contains a variety of tales ranging from losing your Speedos while competing in a swimming race to being harassed by a shark while participating in a surfing competition.
There are even spooky incidents such as The Ghost of Barry Keen involving a haunted change room and a full bladder or Marco's Magic Gloves where a mystery man hands over magic gloves to help Marco's goalie skills.
The children in the stories are competitive and want to win, but fair play and maintaining friendships is paramount. The Pink Belt demonstrates the importance of being magnanimous in winning and Rachel and Claudine remain friends in Game On even though they are fierce competitors on the netball court.
This collection of stories has a variety of sports and both girl and boy protagonists therefore appealing to a wide range of children.
Each story is entertaining and told in under 20 pages of easy to read text. Illustrations by James Hart are scattered throughout the book and his cover artwork is attractive as it features many of the stories characters in determined or precarious situations.
Children from 7 to 12 years will enjoy reading this book and teachers could read aloud one of the stories any time they have a spare 5 to 10 minutes in the classroom.
I recommend this book to primary aged students.
Jane Moore