Individual Sports of the Winter Games

April 1, 2020

Gr 3-5-These Olympics guides are ready to deliver 2020 Games content early. The straightforward writing style is simple but not boring, engaging readers with informative overviews of the events. Individual Sports of the Summer Games covers many of the individual events and also includes team sports like synchronized swimming, veering slightly off topic to cover a lesser-known competitive sport. The team sports books dig into all the big events like basketball and hockey. Sports of the Paralympic Games addresses how "paralympic" is a portmanteau of "paraplegic" and "Olympics" and mentions that "para" also means "alongside" in Greek. The narrative of each story is well composed, but for readers who need brain breaks, there are sidebars and groan-worthy sports jokes. Perhaps most importantly, controversy is not ignored; the mention of the many years of sexual abuse by the USA Gymnastics doctor is a brief but critical admission. VERDICT Highly recommended.

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2020
Grades 2-5 Just in time for the 2020 Olympic Games, these titles in the Gold Medal Games series (5 titles) provide a perfect introduction to the history of the Olympics as well as the history of individual and team sports that are played in Summer, Paralympic, and Winter Games. Following this historical overview, three chapters then offer a more in-depth look at some of the sports one can expect to see during these events. Individual Sports of the Winter Games covers sports such as skating (figure and speed), snowboarding, skiing, and luge. Each title contains interesting facts about host cities and record-setting athletes and concludes with inspiring stories and interesting anecdotes. Readers will learn not only about a sport's history but about the rules and variations the sport may have. Perfect for children's nonfiction collections in schools and public libraries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)