NBA Jam (Video Game)

Released: October 2010

Console: Wii

Also available for these consoles: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Interest level: Ages 8 & up

Genre: Sports - Basketball

Contents: For basketball fans, this game is a ton of fun. Choose your favorite players from any basketball team, from the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol or the Miami Heats LeBron James. There are many teams to choose from, but there are only some players to choose from, not the whole team. Some cool features are are you can choose to give your players big heads, which look funny, or you can choose to leave them regular. The Campaign Mode is hilarious: you can choose to play the Clintons, Bush or Sarah Palin. There are many classic players and codes that you can unlock, so play and have some fun. Dunking in this game is great, as well as pushing other players down to get them out of your way ( yeah, don't worry about fouls).

What you need: Wii controls and Nunchuks.

The Dodgeball Chronicles

Cammuso, F. (2008). The Dodgeball Chronicles. New York, NY: Graphix.

Plot: A hilarious take on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, this graphic novel's hero is Artie King, who is new to Camelot Middle School. He quickly becomes friends with Percy after meeting him and his tarantula Hannibal on the way to school. He soon learns about a locker with a legend attched to it. Locker #001XCL hasn't been opened in years and is said to only open to a person of true heart and if the rightful owner of the locker comes along he will rule the school. Artie is assigned the locker, opens it but then gets challenged by the school bullies named The Horde. They challenge Artie to a game of dodgeball, if the Horde wins they have to leave Artie and his friends alone. If they lose Artie has to show the leader of the Horde how to open the locker so he can rule the school. One big problem stands in Artie's way... he stinks at dodgeball.

Genre: Graphic novel

Suggested reading level: Grades 4-7

Subjects/themes: sports, dodgeball, bullies, friendship, school.

Other books in the Knights of the Lunch Table series:

• The Dragon Players

Skateboarder (Magazine)

(August 2010). Skateboarder Magazine. Vol. 19, no. 12.

Content: This is a magazine that attracts tweens and teens that enjoy skateboarding or other X Games sports. Inside there are several skateboarding stories by different people where they share how they have bitten their tongue while riding , had to have surgery and got to miss school, etc. There are ads in the magazine for shoes like Nike and Icon, and ads for skate parks and different skateboards. There are a lot of images of people skateboarding, doing different moves and stunts. There are some articles on a couple of people in the industry, but there is much more in ads and images.

Interest level: 12 & up

Genre: Sports magazine

Subjects/themes: sports, shoes, skateboarding.