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 during 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 pressurefor 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 attack. There's never a dull moment in these books, which showcase the value of perseverance, hard work, joy, and humility.