Beating the Odds - (Sports Illustrated Kids Heroes and Heartbreakers) by Thomas Kingsley Troupe (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Underdog miracles, dynasty defeats, and much more! In this Sports Illustrated Kids book, discover the all-time greatest upsets in sports history. Read about the Celtics' unbelievable win against the unstoppable Lakers in the 1969 NBA Finals. Discover more about USA Hockey's miraculous defeat of the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics. And don't forget the underdog Jets' remarkable win over the Colts in Super Bowl III. With eye-popping photographs and heart-pounding text, this book will turn any sports fan into a reading all-star!"--

Book Synopsis

Underdog miracles, dynasty defeats, and much more! In this Sports Illustrated Kids book, discover the all-time greatest upsets in sports history. Read about the Celtics' unbelievable win against the unstoppable Lakers in the 1969 NBA Finals. Discover more about USA Hockey's miraculous defeat of the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics. And don't forget the underdog Jets' remarkable win over the Colts in Super Bowl III. With eye-popping photographs and heart-pounding text, this book will turn any sports fan into a reading all-star!

Review Quotes

A gripping sports-writing style pulses through the Sports Illustrated Kids: Heroes and Heartbreaks series, which gives exciting play-by -play accounts of unexpected victories and unfathomable failures in the world of sports. One of the series' biggest strengths is the sheer variety of sports represented in its pages. Yes, football, basketball, baseball, and soccer are there, but so are hockey, tennis, boxing, golf, swimming, and gymnastics. Short passages in the second-person present bookend each title's main text, helping to reel in readers, and scattered fact boxes add historical context throughout. Beating the Odds presents sports upsets in which the underdogs came out on top, as with Naomi Osaka's 2018 defeat of Serena Williams dur-ing the U.S. Open. Tears will be shed during Dropping the Ball, as readers witness athletes at career lows, such as when hockey player Steve Smith scored on his own goal during the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs. According to Hitting the Shot, dutch moments in sports demand amazing athletic feats performed under extreme pressure-for example, an injured Kerri Strug's near-perfect gymnastics vault during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Incredible comebacks are the name of the game in Making the Miracle, which highlights Bethany Hamilton's success as a pro surfer after losing her arm to a shark at-tack. There's never a dull moment in these books, which showcase the value of perseverance, hard work, joy, and humility.--Julia Smith "Booklist"