The Fabulous Ball Book

Frances Emery is an editor and writer living in Nepean, Ontario.

Do you want to know how your soccer ball is made? Or why a golf ball is
dimpled? Or who first played with balls? Many of the answers are to be
found in this little book. (It does fail to mention the ball games of
the Maya, but this is a small quibble.)

The book would probably be most appealing to a young teenage boy who
enjoys reading odd books, likes ball games, and loves trivia. It might
be useful in a library, with its mine of information on the origins of
lots of the ball games we take so much for granted. (For example, credit
for the 1891 invention of basketball is properly given to Canadian James
Naismith.) The book might also be a useful addition to a summer-cottage
bookshelf, since it suggests lots of things you can do on a ball theme,
from making your own shuttlecocks and reinventing the original Korean
street-vendor’s game to playing various marble games, alone or with
friends, and bubble-making. The book ends with several recipes for balls
to make and eat! Throughout are lively drawings. Recommended.