I Can Be a Gymnast (Barbie)


Book Description

Children ages 4 to 6 love gymnastics, and they will love reading about Barbie as she competes at a gymnastics championship in this Step into Reading leveled reader. Step 1 Readers feature big type and easy words. Rhymes and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story. For children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading.




She's Got This


Book Description

A New York Times bestseller! From gold-medal-winning Olympic gymnast and bestselling author Laurie Hernandez comes a picture book about chasing your dreams and never giving up. Even Olympians have to start somewhere. And in this charming illustrated book, Laurie Hernandez tells the story of Zoe, a little girl who dreams of flying—and becoming a gymnast. When Zoe sees a gymnast on TV, she realizes that gymnastics is just like flying. But when she first goes to class and falls off the balance beam, she discovers that following her dreams is harder and scarier than she thought. Through this heartwarming and inspirational story, featuring vibrant art from #1 New York Times bestselling and Geisel Honor-winning artist Nina Mata, Laurie imparts important lessons she learned on her way to Olympic glory: You always have to get back up and try again, and you always have to believe in yourself.




I Can Do Gymnastics


Book Description

Step-by-step illustrations and instructions explain how to perform intermediate gymnastics skills on the various apparatuses.




Teaching Fundamental Gymnastics Skills


Book Description

This manual provides guidance on gymnastics instruction for physical education teachers. The authors explore different teaching strategies, body awareness, and the foundational movements and postures, then describe the basic skills of floor exercise, balance beam, springboard and vault, and bars. Black and white drawings illustrate correct body positions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




You Can Be a Gymnast


Book Description

In order to compete high on the rings, flip through the air, and doing walking handstands on the beam, gymnasts have to be strong, flexible, and confident. With lots of practice and help from a coach and spotter, readers can learn to execute splits, L-sits, and other cool gymnastics moves by following an informative step-by-step guide. Colorful photos and helpful tips remind even seasoned gymnasts of important technical points. Readers new to the sport will see moves so cool, they'll want to join a gym and try them right away!




Flying High


Book Description

A lyrical picture book biography of Simone Biles, gymnastics champion and Olympic superstar. Before she was a record-breaking gymnast competing on the world stage, Simone Biles spent time in foster care as a young child. Nimble and boundlessly energetic, she cherished every playground and each new backyard. When she was six years old, Simone's family took shape in a different way. Her grandparents Ron and Nellie Biles adopted Simone and her sister Adria. Ron and Nellie became their parents. Simone was also introduced to gymnastics that same year, launching a lifelong passion fueled by remarkable talent, sacrifice, and the undying support of her family. From her athletic early childhood to the height of her success as an Olympic champion, Flying High is the story of the world's greatest gymnast from author Michelle Meadows and illustrator Ebony Glenn.




Chalked Up


Book Description

The true story of the 1986 U.S. National Gymnastics champion whose lifelong dream was to compete in the Olympics, until anorexia, injuries, and coaching abuses nearly destroyed her Fanciful dreams of gold medals and Nadia Comaneci led Jennifer Sey to become a gymnast at the age of six. She was a natural at the sport, and her early success propelled her family to sacrifice everything to help her become, by age eleven, one of America’s elite,competing at prestigious events worldwide alongside such future gymnastics’ luminaries as Mary Lou Retton. But as she set her sights higher and higher—the senior national team, the World Championships, the 1988 Olympics—Sey began to change, putting her needs, her health, and her well-being aside in the name of winning. And the adults in her life refused to notice her downward spiral. In Chalked Up Sey reveals the tarnish behind her gold medals. A powerful portrait of intensity and drive, eating disorders and stage parents, abusive coaches and manipulative businessmen, denial and the seduction of success, it is the story of a young girl whose dreams would become eclipsed by the adults around her. As she recounts her experiences, Sey sheds light on the destructiveness of our winning-is-everything culture where underage and underweight girls are celebrated and on the need for balance in children’s lives.




My Book of Gymnastics


Book Description

Learn your back springs from your bridges in this first gymnastics book for young fans and future Olympians. Meet the stars of the gymnastic world in this sports book, from Simone Biles to Max Whitlock, and find out how they train and perfect routines to take to the floor and wow the judging panel. With tons of photos and step-by-step illustrations, this book breaks down some of the complicated moves used in gymnastics routines, covering both simple and high-level gymnastics. Parallel bars, the pommel horse, and other key pieces of equipment are profiled alongside how they're used. The differences between rhythmic, acrobatic, and artistic gymnastics are explained with the help of exciting photos of expert gymnasts. Introducing world-champion individuals and international teams, this guide is great for kids that are obsessed with gymnastics.




Letters to a Young Contrarian


Book Description

From bestselling author and provocateur Christopher Hitchens, the classic guide to the art of principled dissent and disagreement In Letters to a Young Contrarian, bestselling author and world-class provocateur Christopher Hitchens inspires the radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, and angry young (wo)men of tomorrow. Exploring the entire range of "contrary positions"—from noble dissident to gratuitous nag—Hitchens introduces the next generation to the minds and the misfits who influenced him, invoking such mentors as Emile Zola, Rosa Parks, and George Orwell. As is his trademark, Hitchens pointedly pitches himself in contrast to stagnant attitudes across the ideological spectrum. No other writer has matched Hitchens's understanding of the importance of disagreement—to personal integrity, to informed discussion, to true progress, to democracy itself.




Little Girls in Pretty Boxes


Book Description

A sports reporter investigates the training of girls as professional gymnasts and figure skaters, arguing that the pressure to succeed and to look beautiful results in mental and physical harm, from eating disorders to psychological trauma.