What Is the Super Bowl?

What was...?

by Dina Anastasio, Who H.Q., David Groff (Illustrator)

With over 110 million viewers every year, the Super Bowl is one of the most watched television events in the United States. The final showdown between the two best football teams in the NFL attracts some of the biggest musicians to perform at the half-time show. But the Super Bowl is more than just a spectacle – it’s a high-stakes game to win the championship and claim a place in history. Go back in time and relive all the magic from years past – from excruciating fumbles to game winning plays.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, History, Childrens, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Football

112 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2015

About the author

Dina Anastasio grew up and lives in New York City. She lived in West Cork, Ireland, for many years. She is a freelance writer and past editor of Sesame Street Magazine (four years). She is a mother of two with three grandchildren.

Reviews

[Maddison Aiken · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is AMAZING! I love this so much. It showed me 16 REAL photos of the Super Bowls from back then. The only thing that i didn't like was of how some numbers where in Roman Numerals. I would put them in normal numbers because some people or kids might not know how to read Roman Numerals. But overall this was a GREAT book. I recommend this book to people who like football.

[Mark Frazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative for someone who doesn't know much about football.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Football touches even those of us who don't give a hoot about it. I'm surprised at how much of this is familiar even though I've tried to stay immune to it.

Best part of this book was the timeline in the back. Didn't know the Buffalo Bills lost four times in consecutive Super Bowls, and the two of those were lost to Dallas, back to back. I also didn't know the 49ers even made it the Super Bowl recently (2013).

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent representation of Super Bowl history and would be an excellent method to get a reluctant reader who is also a football fan into some reading. And this book is a gateway to a thirst for knowledge about the Super Bowl. It provides details on some cool games that will really whet the appetite for further reading. Recommended to football fans of all ages.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was somewhat disappointed in What Is the Super Bowl by Dina Anastasio. Football was one of my favorite spectator sports until some players decided to introduce politics into it as multimillionaire players protested Oppression. Since then I haven't watched a game. I absolutely respect the right to protest, but there's a right time and place for that. So I thought reading about the history of the Super Bowl would bring some satisfaction. And the author does a good job of describing the early days of the game, the formation of various teams, the creation of leagues of teams, then the next step of playoffs and championship games between leagues. This eventually led to the champion of one league playing the champion of the other league and the name of Super Bowl was almost a given. From there the rest of the book presented highlights of which teams played each other in each Super Bowl and pointed out any unusual plays or interesting facts throughout Super Bowl history. It was still a worthwhile read, short and full of facts and figures.

[Charles Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book gives a lot of info on the Superbowl let alone the history of the NFL. It give info on the teams that destroyed the NFL in about a 10 year span. If you get at least 2 Superbowl's in like 10 years you are a very talented team and no not the patriots they cheat.

[Hailey Vittrup · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.9 stars rounded up… This is an awesome, informational book about the Super Bowl. It’s a great read (or listen in this case) as the Super Bowl approaches once again. This is probably among the best written books in the series. The narrator was a great reader with a really good sports caster type voice. As almost always, the timeline(s) at the end of the book became some kind of unnecessary political statement. That’s why the .1 was deducted.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This life-long football fan loved looking back to where it all began; January 15, 1967. "No other game in the United States has more television viewers than the Super Bowl."

Read all about it!

[Amy Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I studied this the day before the Super Bowl--I had agreed to attend a Super Bowl party with my boyfriend, and decided that I may as well learn something other than the fact that touchdowns are six points.  Therefore, I opened this book with an eager mind.  And boy, did I learn a lot!  I had no idea that there were two different conferences, and I didn't know the rich history of coaching or many of the teams.  Not to mention, of course, that the first super bowl wasn't sold out or the fact that the most expensive ticket for the first super bowl was around $12!  This helped prepare me with some basic facts and knowledge that I got to show off the following day.  And, as usual, I loved the illustrations, and the photographs were so fun to look at!  I'd definitely recommend this to any other adult like me who has no clue about sports, or for the elementary schooler who is eager to learn all about football.  Great for grades 2-4.

Review cross-listed here!

[Gabe Spann · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book What is the Super Bowl by Dina Anastasio it talks about in Super Bowl one was not called the Super Bowl it was called the NFL-AFL World Championship. In that game it was the Green Bay Packers v.s. the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers won the game. The Chiefs were newcomers to the game they started in the 1960s the Packers started 40 years earlier then the Chiefs did. The Packers head coach was scared that the Chiefs were going to win. The settings in the book are very different in every game because of where the game is play for each Super Bowl. The record for the most Super Bowls is 5 wins is the Cowboys steelers and the 49ers.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun book because it tells you a lot about super bowls that have happen years before.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I try to read a lot of the books going into my class library and I always read books that are part of the "Who, What, Where..." series. I really love these books.

On the other hand. I abhor football. Like, there's possibly nothing in the world I find more ridiculous and uninteresting than football.

Still I gave it a go with this book, I thought I might learn something. I didn't. I was just as confused reading about all the famous "plays" as I am trying to understand football in person. (I used to let my friends drag me to games, finally, after spending the most of one game reading my book out near the concession stands, I gave up and said "NO MORE!")

I just think football is the most uninteresting sport ever. The only sporting event I've been to that I enjoyed even less was a rugby game. Sports are not in my wheelhouse to begin with and football ranks at rock bottom.

These books are written for kids and I was trying to imagine my fifth graders read this book and I honestly couldn't even see the little sports fans enjoying it. There were too many names and places being flung around. It was hard to understand and keep with. The book was basically just, "In this Super Bowl this cool play happened, then in this Super Bowl this big name guy did this cool thing." And it went on-and-on in that vein for the whole book.

[Keaton Ivins]

 I read a book that is called What is The Super Bowl. I can't remember how many pages are in the book. I really like this book because I like reading about sports. I liked it because it talked about every super bowl. My favorite part about the book is that it told me a little summary of every super bowl. There aren’t any characters in the story so I didn’t have a favorite character.        I found a lot of interesting things in the book. One of them is that there was not a super bowl that has gone into overtime. Another thing that I found interesting is that the packers were in the first two super bowl ever. 

[David Rough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2016, this book is already out of date, but it still provides a fun look at one of the biggest annual sporting events in the world. It took me back down memory lane. I have been alive for all 59 (soon to be 60) games. I am not a fanatic who has watched every down, but I remember some great games with Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw/Lynn Swann, Joe Montana/Jerry Rice, and the Manning Brothers. In just 100 pages, it is impossible to capture the highlights of every game, but this book for young readers does an admirable job of projecting the excitement and drama of this high stakes contest.

[Shari (Shira) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chase wanted to read a book about the Super Bowl. I found this one. This is a fantastic series! I learned many facts about the Super Bowl, which will undoubtedly make me a boring guest and Justin and Aviva's Super Bowl party. I am going to be able to answer Super Bowl questions on Jeopardy. Most of all, Chase was able to fluently read this book, two text levels higher than he usually read. I guess the research about interest and text level is true.

[Cindy DavisClark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had purchased this book some time ago. Before giving it away I decided to read it before this year's Super Bowl. Very interesting history. It ended in 2016 so nothing about more recent years here but the history was interesting. Missing history about the Green Bay Packers after the initial Super Bowls though.

[Bethany Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

One chapter was about what the Super Bowl is. The rest were recaps of different Super Bowls. It covered a few key players and coaches from different years. If you knew absolutely nothing about football teams or players from the past it would be educational. If you grew up in a football family - it's extremely boring!

[Aubrey Hitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the super bowl! This was very informative on a subject that I already enjoy. I think this book would be gobbled up by young boy readers! They would love all the little facts and tidbits about the Super Bowl.

[Westin Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading this text it did a wonderful job of explaining the history behind the Super Bowl. You get to enjoy learning about famous players, games, and coaches. This is broken into chapters and each one adds another piece of history to it.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read out loud to my class to celebrate the upcoming Super Bowl. They seemed to enjoy it. One student mentioned things were left out of the history. I told the student that it would be hard to list everything in Super Bowl history.

[Chelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I LOVE football, but I was soooo ready to be done with this book. It is jam-packed with facts from almost all of the Super Bowls. I almost wish it were newer so that it had the new KC Chiefs Super Bowl appearances mentioned. Also, Tom Brady sucks. 😂

[Sara Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read to give some of the highlights of Super Bowls. I would have liked to see a chart with all of the games played with the scores or something more on the game itself. A fun conversational piece to read, especially right before the Super Bowl

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting read out and its already amazing!!! In the book

[Julie Ann Cordero · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book with my son. These What Is books are so fun and easy to read. I now know a ton about Super Bowl history.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A detailed history if the Super bowl from it's conception to it's greatest moments. Fans will delight. elementary

[Carter Worden · Rating 3 out of 5]

football good

[Jenny Claiborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my 9 year old son for school. He loves football and loved learning about the origins of the Super Bowl.

[Kaitlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it because it tells you all the famous football players in the history of football.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short primer about the Super Bowl and its history. Not just a children’s book, it gives a great overview of the event and the interesting people and circumstances surrounding it.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kid-approved by a reluctant reader.

I've tutored this particular student for years and have worked to find ANY book that he would like.

He read this like a sports announcer.

I almost cried.