This Is How a Ball Rolls: The Science of Wobbling, Bouncing, Spinning Balls

by Heather Tekavec, Suharu Ogawa

Overview

An innovative and fun guessing game book about sports balls and the physics behind how they move!

In this one-of-a-kind informational picture book, cleverly tongue-twisting descriptions introduce twelve different types of sports balls, and readers are encouraged to guess what they are. An accompanying block of kid-friendly text explains the science behind why balls do what they do and what makes them so much fun! This book is the perfect combination of an interesting topic, fascinating science and engaging text.

Silly and sporty, and great fun to read aloud, it’s sure to leave kids bowled over!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525312748
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	06/03/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	22 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Heather Tekavec discovered while working as a preschool teacher that children's books were a lot more fun than adult books. In addition to picture books, such as Arnold the Super-ish Hero, Different? Same! and Stop, Thief!, Heather enjoys writing short stories, articles and poems for children's magazines, such as CRICKET, Chirp, Highlights and Totline, and has delved a few times into writing scripts and directing live theater. She lives in Cloverdale, British Columbia.

Suharu Ogawa is a Toronto-based illustrator originally from Japan. Formally trained in art history and cultural anthropology, she worked for several years as a university librarian until her passion for illustration called her out of that career and into the pursuit of a lifelong dream. Since then, Suharu has done various work for magazines, children’s books, public art projects and more. She teaches illustration at OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

The author and illustrator have a ball with their subject, and so will readers.—Kirkus Reviews

This buoyant introduction to basic kinetics will energize school and public library STEM collections.—Booklist

From the Publisher

2025-03-08
It’s “Game on!” thanks to balls, from glass marbles to the “human hamster balls” called zorbs.

Saluting a dozen types of round balls in roughly ascending order of size, Tekavec generates enough enthusiasm to put plenty of zip into her rolling, bouncing narrative. Most of the balls she describes are made to bounce, with marbles, bowling balls, soft juggler’s balls (made of “leather and beans”), and, arguably, baseballs being the exceptions. On each page, the author pairs upbeat verse with further facts in prose: “Basketballs need to be grippy, not slippy”; fuzz on a tennis ball slows it down so that players won’t break their rackets while swinging at it. Depicting a racially and culturally diverse cast, Ogawa cranks up the energy even further with scenes of excited young people (including some in hijabs, some in wheelchairs, and some in both) playing in or spectating both organized games and general rumpuses. Along with having a chance to learn a little more about different balls, including some less familiar ones like yoga balls and the Kin-Ball (the “biggest sports ball in the world”), readers will come away with light doses of scientific background on relevant topics from elasticity to trajectories and aerodynamics.

The author and illustrator have a ball with their subject, and so will readers.(Informational picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews