Heaven Is a Playground is a 1976 book by Rick Telander. It describes Telander's observations of the streetball culture in Brooklyn during the summer of 1974. Among the players featured in the book are Fly Williams and Albert King. [1] The book was ranked #15 in a 2002 Sports Illustrated list of the Top 100 Sports Books of All Time. [2]
The New York Times wrote: "It is funny, sad, superblywritten and intensely involving without ever being sentimental. In Telander's gifted hands, the lives of a dozen park rats become suddenly important to us, and their fights, drunks, bad trips, their dreams of college stardom and their generally losing battles to escape the suffocation of the ghetto become compelling dramas." [3] Kirkus Reviews called it "a fine projection of how a playground can be heaven to some but hell to those not able to make the leap out." [4]
The 1991 film Heaven Is a Playground is loosely based on the book. [5]
Harriet the Spy is a children's novel written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh that was published in 1964. It has been called "a milestone in children's literature" and a "classic". In the U.S., it ranked number 12 in the 50 Best Books for Kids and number 17 in the Top 100 Children's Novels on two lists generated in 2012.
The Boys of Summer is a 1972 non-fiction baseball book by Roger Kahn. After recounting his childhood in Brooklyn and his life as a young reporter on the New York Herald Tribune, the author relates some history of the Brooklyn Dodgers up to their victory in the 1955 World Series. He then tracks the lives of the players over the subsequent years as they aged. The title of the book is taken from a Dylan Thomas poem that describes "the boys of summer in their ruin".
Anne Evelyn Bunting, better known as Eve Bunting, was a Northern Irish-born American writer of more than 250 books. Her work covered a broad array of subjects and included fiction and non-fiction books. Her novels are primarily aimed at children and young adults, but she has also written the text for picture books. While many of her books are set in Northern Ireland where she grew up, her topics and settings range from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Bunting's first book, The Two Giants, was published in 1971. Due to the popularity of her books with children, she has been listed as one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.
Jon Scieszka is an American children's writer, best known for his picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers."
Edward Hoagland is an American author best known for his nature and travel writing.
Suzanne Marie Collins is an American author and television writer. She is best known as the author of the young adult dystopian book series The Hunger Games. She is also the author of the children's fantasy series The Underland Chronicles.
Rick Telander is the senior sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Hired in 1995 from Sports Illustrated, where he was a Senior Writer, Telander's presence at the newspaper was expected to counter the stable of sports columnists the rival Chicago Tribune had.
Hyperlink cinema is a style of filmmaking characterized by complex or multilinear narrative structures with multiple characters under one unifying theme.
Debi Gliori is a Scottish writer and illustrator of children's books.
Albert King is an American former professional basketball player. The younger brother of former NBA scoring champion, Hall of Famer Bernard King, Albert played at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn and is regarded as one of the nation's greatest high school players of all time. He was rated the top prep player in the nation over Magic Johnson and Gene Banks during his senior year. A 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) guard-forward from the University of Maryland, King was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 1981 NBA draft. King played in nine NBA seasons for four teams.
Catwings is a series of four American children's picture books written by Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by S. D. Schindler, and originally published by Scholastic from 1988 to 1999. It follows the adventures of kittens who were born with wings. Catwings is also the title of the first book in the series. The series is in print from Scholastic as of August 2015.
Marcus Sedgwick was a British writer and illustrator. He authored several young adult and children's books and picture books, a work of nonfiction and several novels for adults, and illustrated a collection of myths and a book of folk tales for adults. According to School Library Journal his "most acclaimed titles" were those for young adults.
James "Fly" Williams is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Spirits of St. Louis and for multiple teams in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). A street basketball player from New York, he once scored 100 points in an IS8 League game in 1978.
Dear Mr. Henshaw is a juvenile epistolary novel by Beverly Cleary and illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1984. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".
Harry the Dirty Dog is an American children's picture book written by Gene Zion and illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham. Originally published in black and white in 1956 by Harper and Row, it was reprinted in 2002 with splashes of color added by the original artist. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children." The story also spawned an animated short, which was released in 1997.
Kwame Alexander is American poet, educator, publisher, Emmy® Award-winning producer, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including poetry, memoir, and children's fiction. His mission is to change the world, one word at a time.
Heaven Is a Playground is a 1991 sports film based on Rick Telander's book of the same name. It was written and directed by Randall Fried, and stars Michael Warren, D.B. Sweeney, Victor Love, Bo Kimble, Richard Jordan and Janet Julian. Telander himself makes a cameo appearance in the film. The film was released on October 4, 1991 by New Line Cinema.
A list of works by, or about, the American science fiction author Larry Niven.
William Brashler is an American author and journalist. He is best known for writing The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, which was published in 1973. A film adaptation, directed by John Badham and starring Richard Pryor and Billy Dee Williams, was released in 1976. Bingo Long was chosen as one of the top 100 sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated, in 2002. The 20th anniversary edition of the book included a preface by sports historian Peter C. Bjarkman.
Peter Golenbock is an American author. He is noted for his many books about baseball and other sports. Many of his books have been bestsellers.