School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Lulu's passion is shooting hoops. She tears up the court, but the boys won't allow her on their team. Undeterred, Lulu invites sporty girls from around the world to attend a Basket Ball. Plecas's affable ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations feature a multicultural team of sports enthusiasts who arrive in a basketball-shaped carriage wearing sequined jerseys, "high-top heels," and "hair wrapped in nothing but net." Many basketball phrases are woven into the rhyming text, with sometimes clunky results: "'Girls cannot play,' the guard would say,/Asserting his offensive .. Lulu did not quibble./She offered up a hanky for the captain's double dribble." The empowerment theme has appeal, but it is restricted by the extensive wordplay.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Lulu is living proof that one can be both girly and athletic. "Lulu messed with makeup./ Lulu played with dolls./ But most of all, our Lulu liked to shoot her basketballs." Her male schoolyard peers won't let her play, so Lulu takes matters into her own hands, inviting "go-to girls with game" from around the world to a fete where they celebrate, compete, and end up forming their own league. Plecas's (Pretend) sweet watercolor illustrations effortlessly capture the global cast and exude an authentic eagerness, but she's saddled with a story that doesn't make much sense. Codell's (Fairly Fairy Tales) paean to self- and collective-actualization feels like it's about a generation or so late to the party: nowadays, athletic girls have plenty of feminine role models, and even young girls can find basketball leagues that are happy to have them. Finally, the idea that aspiring, dedicated athletes like the ones Lulu invites would show up to play a game they love in skirts and "high top heels" is more demeaning than it is funny or touching. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.