Win One for the Gipper (True Story)

These well-suited collaborators present a crisp portrait of George Gipp, a gifted athlete from Michigan who landed a baseball scholarship to Notre Dame in 1916. Yet one day, as he kicked around a football with a friend, his talent caught the attention of renowned coach Knute Rockne, who convinced Gipp to join his team. Young football players and fans will most appreciate the author's recap of highlights of Gipp's stellar college football career, during which he repeatedly led his team to victory and became a national sensation. Wargin (The Legend of Sleeping Bear) also imparts a sense of Gipp's likable off-field persona (if he won money playing pool or cards with local folk, "he bought dinner for people who didn't have enough to eat"). Gipp's devotion to his team and fans drove him to play in one game even though he was feverish, resulting in a fatal case of pneumonia. The book's title comes into play in the story's poignant, unabashedly sentimental finale: eight years after Gipp's death, "at just the right moment," Rockne shares with his flagging Notre Dame team the now famous words that the football hero whispered on his deathbed. Those words inspire the team to come back and beat longstanding rival Army. Langton's (B Is for Buckeye) realistic, closely focused paintings do a better job of portraying the bond between Gipp and his coach than in depicting the action on the field. Nonetheless his portraits convincingly convey the hero's gumption and grit. Ages 6-12. (Oct.)

Copyright 2004 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Gr 2-4 A picture-book biography of a Notre Dame football hero in the early 1900s. George Gipp initially attended Notre Dame on a baseball scholarship, but attracted the attention of Coach Knute Rockne, who encouraged him to give football a chance. Gipp suited up and became an outstanding player for his team. During his senior year, he became ill, but nonetheless played in the game against Northwestern on a day planned to honor his accomplishments. Two days later, he was hospitalized and died. Before his death, he told Coach Rockne at his hospital bedside to "win one for the Gipper," a phrase that was repeated eight years later in a locker room before Notre Dame went on to defeat Army at West Point. Langton's larger-than-life oil paintings are stronger than the pedestrian text, which is framed on each page. However, readers who have been curious about the expression will gain a clear understanding of its origin." -Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.