{"id":342,"date":"2021-11-12T18:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T18:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/?p=342"},"modified":"2025-05-20T20:51:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T20:51:23","slug":"youre-a-good-sport-miss-malarkey-by-judy-finchler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/?p=342","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019re A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey by Judy Finchler"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“You\u2019re A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey\u201d is written by Judy Finchler and illustrated by Kevin O\u2019Malley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soccer season has arrived, so Dr. Toughlove thought it would be an ideal time to showcase the book \u201cYou\u2019re A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey\u201d written by Judy Finchler and illustrated by Kevin O\u2019Malley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judy Finchler is a retired elementary school teacher and librarian, and is the author of a series of children\u2019s picture books about Miss Malarkey, a good-natured teacher at Youngstown Elementary School. In this book, Principal Wiggins (yes, he wears a wig) asks Mr. Fitanuff, the gym teacher, to be the school\u2019s soccer coach. That didn\u2019t work out too well, so Principal Wiggins assigned Miss Malarkey to the job, despite the fact that she doesn\u2019t know much about soccer. This doesn\u2019t turn out to be a terrible problem because the YELS team members (Youngstown Elementary League Soccer) don\u2019t know much about soccer either. \u201cI\u2019m really good \u201ccause I play video soccer\u201d, \u201cI played soccer once\u2026\u2026I scored a touchdown\u201d, and \u201cYou can\u2019t score a touchdown in soccer. You scored a basket\u201d (p. 3). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judy Finchler\u2019s book artfully depicts the idea that something good can be learned from a bad example. Throughout the book the adults in the story harass referees, complain about the coach, scream at their kids from the sidelines and display other unsportsmanlike behavior. Miss Malarkey, in her mild-mannered way, tries her best to rise above this and coach in a caring, loving manner. The contrast is startling and makes a very important point about civility and kindness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mark of a great children\u2019s book is when an author, in conjunction with a skilled illustrator is able to tackle complex issues (sportsmanship, civility) with lightness and wit. \u201cYou\u2019re a Good Sport, Miss Malarkey\u201d does this with aplomb. When adults read this book to or with children, it provides a golden opportunity to talk about things like how to treat others, and why the adults are behaving badly. Conversations can also include how Miss Malarkey takes control of the situation, shames the adults and saves the day. Children and adults can also talk about how to handle situations like this if\/when they arise. This book can serve as a great teaching and learning tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have any budding actors or actresses in your midst, the speech bubbles in \u201cYou\u2019re A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey\u201d provide a perfect occasion for children to vary their volume and intonation to accurately express the written words. For the same reason, it makes a wonderful read aloud selection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey\u201d is a great book for kids aged 5-9, and is available at the Queen Anne\u2019s County Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“You\u2019re A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey\u201d is written by Judy Finchler and illustrated by Kevin O\u2019Malley. Soccer season has arrived, so Dr. Toughlove thought it would be an ideal time to showcase the book \u201cYou\u2019re A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey\u201d written by Judy Finchler and illustrated by Kevin O\u2019Malley. Judy Finchler is a retired elementary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346,"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolfranksrandall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}