With 2008 being the year of the Beijing Olympics an authoritative book for children on the Olympic movement is opportune. The fact this one is written by Clive Gifford – sports fanatic and award-winning children's writer – is a real bonus. Gifford has a chatty style which pulls you in from page one.
| Outstanding Olympics by Clive Gifford | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A factual look at the Olympic Games from ancient times up to the preparation for the 2008 Beijing Games. Interesting facts, chatty style and action photography of the highest standard make this a highly recommended book. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 64 | Date: June 2008 |
| Publisher: Oxford University Press | |
| ISBN: 978-0199117765 | |
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It's easy to think that the Olympic Games have always been as they are now, but Gifford goes back to the first Games in 776 BC when the Ancient Greeks began staging Games every four years at Olympia. The Games eventually fell into decline and ended some sixteen hundred years ago and were forgotten until the remains of Olympia were unearthed in the late nineteenth century. The modern Games began in 1896 and have continued at four-yearly intervals, interrupted only by wars.
Onto this basic framework Clive Gifford builds a picture of how the Games have developed and it's all done in short 'sound bites' of simple, interesting facts which are going to catch a child's interest. There's inspiration for young sporting enthusiasts as we see the way that Olympians (they're the people who compete in the Games) have trained – or on occasions how little they've done. Cautionary tales abound of unfortunate accidents or funny incidents and some of it is laugh-out-loud funny.
For the child who loves the lists and charts there are details of all the venues for the modern Games and the number of medals won by each country. Do you know that some Olympians haven't received their medals until decades later because mistakes in the scoring have only been discovered at a later date?
As well as looking at the summer Games there are plenty of details about the winter Olympics and the Paralympics and whilst there is an emphasis on the preparations for the Beijing Olympics it isn't out of proportion – the book will still be tremendous value after the Games have ended. I was impressed by details of websites which can be used by teachers or children to find further information, quizzes or the latest news.
There's action photography on every page and most of it is absolutely superb with nothing falling below the 'very good' level. They range from an emotional Matthew Pinsent collecting his gold medal in Athens in 2004 to a stunning picture of Lacey Heward skiing in the 2006 Paralympics in Italy in 2006.
In the back of the book there's a chart about Beijing and I must confess that I found this slightly disappointing as I was rather hoping that this would be a chart of the various events at the 2008 Games with spaces so that the winners could be filled in. As a child that's the sort of thing that I loved doing, but this is a chart about Beijing and China itself, which, in fairness, will still be of value after the Games. I'm just being picky.
Have you ever read a book where you couldn't resist reading bits out to anyone who would listen? Well, that's what I found myself doing with this book. It's targeted at the eight plus age group but even for someone many decades beyond that age it was still a wonderful read.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
If this book appeals to you then we can recommend another Clive Gifford book which has been welcomed by young readers – Crime Busters.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Outstanding Olympics by Clive Gifford at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Outstanding Olympics by Clive Gifford at Amazon.com.
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