Reviews
Billy Rushmore Media’s book and documentary reviews are located here, separated into categories. For those who love reading, learning, or reading reviews to feel like they accomplished something today, you have come to the right place. Each review has the title, author or director, and publisher. Affiliate links to purchase the media will be coming in the future. Please use the links underneath the three categories to jump to a review. Thank you.
Review Categories
Children’s Books
The Family Under the Bridge
Books
Das Reboot
A Life Too Short
Documentaries
The Russian Five
Children’s Books
The Family Under the Bridge
author: Natalie Savage Carlson
illustrator: Garth Williams
publisher: Scholastic Inc, by arrangement with Harper and Row Junior Books
First Scholastic printing, October 1990
A lovely short novel about a curmudgeonly, yet kind, homeless man and his unlikely union with three young children and their dog, Jojo.
The novel opens describing our kind homeless man, Armand, and the setting for the novel – Paris. We meet Armand’s friends and some of his common routes and favorite locations throughout Paris. Armand is cheery, kind, comfortable with his life as a homeless man, and he does not like children. As this day in Armand’s life comes to a close, we unexpectedly meet three children (“starlings”, as Armand calls them) – Suzy, Paul, and Evelyne – and their dog – Jojo.
Suzy is the eldest, and a good model of maturity, manners, bravery, and responsibility at roughly nine years old, while Paul is the middle child and Evelyne the youngest. Suzy sees right away that Armand has a good heart, or perhaps she is trying to convince Armand to help them, and all three children endear themselves to Armand.
As the novel progresses, and the four characters, plus the children’s mother, meet, face, and solve various difficulties together, we see each of them bond, develop, and relearn to love. I see it as a story of being able to be generous, help others, and find family.
The Family Under the Bridge is told through Armand’s perspective with a narrator.
Things to be aware of:
– Book was originally published in 1958, so some words are now considered not in good taste, such as hobo.
– Insinuated foul language or violence in a few parts.
– Difficult life lived by Armand, the three children, and their mother.
Suggested age range: 7-10 years old read with parent; 11+ years old reading on own, for mature readers.
Interests: Family dynamics, redemption, character transformation
Length: 97 pages
Nonfiction Books
Das Reboot
author: Raphael Honigstein
publisher: Nation Books (U.S.), Yellow Jersey Press (UK)
First U.S. edition
“‘I knew it would be my last tournament with Germany and I didn’t want to regret not having done everything possible for success afterwards.’” – Philipp Lahm, p. 210.
An enjoyable read about the German men’s national soccer (football) team who won the 2014 World Cup. Actually, the redevelopment of the men’s soccer structure and focus on the national level is a major focus; hence the title of the book. In short, although Germany’s result at the 2002 World Cup was to finish as runner up to Brazil, the German team’s physical, untechnical style of play and heavy reliance on the greatness of Michael Ballack showed there was a need for a… you guessed it, reboot!
What I found most appealing about this book was the quotes from the interviews with the players. Thomas Müller was one of my particular favorites, and his postgame or post-match interviews are also entertaining. A co-favorite aspect of Das Reboot was the description of how various less favored, at some points even maligned, coaches or managers brought their ideas that positively changed German soccer, including Jürgen Klinsmann and Ralf Rangnick. In my view, this aspect would appeal to soccer/football fans, those interested in history, organizational development, and to those wondering “why doesn’t my country’s national team try something like this?”
An entertaining chronicle of Germany’s ascent to the top of the World Cup mountain in 2014, I highly recommend this book.
Suggested age range: 16 years old and up
Interests: sports, history, team building, group development
Length: 276 pages
A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke
author: Ronald Reng
English translation copyright Shaun Whiteside, 2011
publisher: Yellow Jersey Press (UK), 2011
Documentaries
The Russian Five
director: Joshua Riehl
released: 2018
run time: 102 minutes
Their arrival signaled a new age of hockey in North America and the NHL, and an era of success for the Detroit Red Wings, but it was not without difficulties.
Do you like hockey? Does political intrigue entertain you? Do the complexities of teambuilding pique your curiosity? Then this is the documentary for you!
I first started watching hockey around 1994, so this documentary brought back some great memories, including the fluorescent red puck overlay on TV broadcasts! Okay, maybe that wasn’t one of your favorite parts of 90s hockey. Through interviews with coaches (including Scotty Bowman), three General Managers (Jim Devellano, Bryan Murray, and Ken Holland), sportswriter Keith Gave, and players and staff, we learn about the exciting maneuvers to eventually create the Russian Five and their struggles to win the Stanley Cup.
Jeff Daniels opens the movie describing the importance of Detroit Red Wings hockey to the city of Detroit, and how bereft of success the team was in the 1970s and 1980s. Jeff Daniels is prominent in the beginning of the documentary but shows up sparingly after that until a few sound bites in the last 20 minutes of the film. I liked using a fan as the key driver of the opening parts of the documentary because while the players, coaches, and staff describe the dynamics within the team, being a fan is how most of us experience a professional team sport and thus the experience we most understand. As more staff, coaches, and players are introduced, they take center stage to describe the genesis and maturation of Federov, Konstantinov, Slava Kozlov, Slava Fetisov, and Igor Larionov becoming “The Russian Five.”
There are two other parts of this documentary that I wish to highlight. One is the use of illustrations and animation. These illustrations and animation better captured the mood of the players, staff, and the end of the Cold War period than a stock photo or video could have when describing secretive meetings between Red Wings staff or sportswriter Keith Gave and the USSR players. Vibrant colors as well as use of some features that reminded me of noir video games or animation were the icing on the cake.
The second is the use of interviews with four of the Russian Five themselves and their teammates, interviews with coaches and staff who were all directly involved in acquiring Federov, Konstantinov, Kozlov, Fetisov, and Larionov, and archival footage. Hearing the story and the experience from the persons involved, a primary source, is often best, as it was here, for learning about the emotions, difficulties, and successes of people involved.
As a hockey fan and Detroit Red Wings fan who cut his hockey fandom teeth on this team, this was an amazing documentary. I highly recommend it.
Recommended age: 16+
Why? Language, sports violence, political themes
The Russian Five is covered in more detail on Billy Rushmore Podcast episode 109.
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