cover image Home-Field Advantage

Home-Field Advantage

Justin Tuck, illus. by Leonardo Rodriguez. Simon & Schuster, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4424-0369-7

Tuck, an NFL football star and literacy advocate, makes his children's book debut with an upbeat autobiographical tale. "When people ask me how I got to be so tough, I say, %E2%80%98You'd be tough too, if you grew up with... my five sisters!' " he writes. In brassy, caricatured watercolors, Mad magazine cartoonist Rodriguez depicts the siblings as feisty and bright-eyed%E2%80%94especially twins Christale and Tiffany, first seen smirking and holding a hose that they turn on Justin. Noting that the twins "especially helped me to be extra tough," the author recalls the day they dragged him outdoors to cut his hair. Rodriguez keeps readers in suspense for a bit, before revealing the boy's disastrous reverse Mohawk. Although it's a pretty thin anecdote on which to build a book, the story radiates familial warmth and cohesiveness, well before the author spells it out explicitly: "Even when they did things like this, I knew they loved me and I loved them." New York Giants fans in particular ought to get a kick out of this slice-of-life offering. Ages 4%E2%80%938. (Aug.)