My name and heritage might be German, but I’ll be cheering for the Azzurri this Saturday, July 2, at 3:00 Eastern time and noon Pacific time on ESPN 2 when the Italians take on Germany in the Euro quarterfinal match. After all, once upon a time, my American son dreamed of playing for the Italian World … More Italy vs. German: Euro Cup 2016
I”ve been watching the U.S. Women’s Soccer team with delight. Less than 10 minutes after this blog post goes up, I’ll be plopping myself in front of the TV to watch them take on Japan. Both teams arrived at this moment because of their skill, determination, conditioning and desire. Players like Abby Wambaugh, Hope Solo, and … More Finding a Way to Win
Editors warn authors against putting things in their contemporary novels that will “date” the books unless a project is already anchored somehow in time. As I watched the Italians lose their final game of group playof th 2010 World Cup, I wondered whether DEFENDING IRENE had made the jump from contemporary sports fiction to historical sports … More Contemporary Fiction
Every year the Bank Street College of Education Book Committee reviews over 6000 titles. They put 600 of those books into their Best Children’s Books of the Year publication. The Bank Street College of Education recently put out a list of their Outstanding Books for the years 1997 to 2008 on their website. Each of the books on … More Best of the Best
ILBNH, otherwise known as InsertLiteraryBlogNameHere, included DEFENDING IRENE in their list of soccer books to read in preparation for the World Cup. My book certainly shows why Italians are so passionate for the Azurri. Soccer isn’t just the national game of Italy; it’s the national passion. But the bias against girls playing the game runs … More World Cup Fever!
Kristin Wolden Nitz 