Speed Skating

April 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-These books offer fairly dense, text-heavy accounts of the evolution of different Olympic winter sports. Descriptions of gear, all-time best athletes, and dynasties of each sport provide young researchers with a lot of fodder for reports. Most notable is inclusion of climate change and its effect on outdoor winter sports in Alpine Skiing, Nordic Skiing, and Snowboarding. The somewhat dry writing will not have huge appeal to casual browsers. The sparse visuals don't do much to break up the long chunks of text. VERDICT Unlikely to garner a readership outside of those with schoolwork needs.

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2018
Grades 4-6 From the Global Citizens: Olympic Sports series (8 titles), this volume introduces speed skating, which had its Olympic debut in 1932. Labrecque traces the sport's roots to the invention of ice skates in Scandinavia more than 3,000 years ago, and discusses the longtime dominance of the Netherlands in Olympic long-track competitions and of South Korea in short-track events. Apolo Ohno, now retired, is featured as a successful American speed skater. The text, relatively short for a book at its reading level, offers a basic introduction to the sport. Each double-page spread includes one or two photos, usually color shots of athletes skating in Olympic events. While the book is unlikely to generate enthusiasm for the sport, it provides background information for readers intrigued by speed skating races in the Winter Olympics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)