When I was a little girl, I was completely fascinated with Nadia Comaneci. She had captured the world’s attention in the 1976 Olympic games and by the time I was 5 or 6 the television movie on her life had made it’s debut and I would watch it any chance that I got. I tried gymnastics classes, but I didn’t have the skill or the passion. I was much happier playing soccer and baseball, but that didn’t deter my love of Nadia.
Back in December, I read that a new picture book biography of Nadia was coming out and decided that I had to have it. “Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn’t Sit Still,” by Karlin Gray, shows a little girl who couldn’t sit still, but who was determined to be the best. It wisely skips over the eating disorder that she, and many other gymnasts, suffered from, but it does show her amazing focus and how she changed the sport of gymnastics.
Bela & Malta Karolyi picked Nadia to be a part of their new gymnasium because of the joy that she showed when cartwheeling around the playground. It would take lots of hard work and determination to build Olympic level skills, but that’s what she did.
Like most humans, Nadia was not perfect and would often fall during practice and early competitions. But like the champion that she was, she always got back up and did it again. All of this paid off when she was the first gymnast to ever get a perfect 10.
When I read this book with my older daughter, or really, when she read it to me, she was as taken with Nadia’s story as I have always been. On the eve of the Summer Olympics, I’m thrilled to get my kids excited about the sports that they can see. J took gymnastics when she was younger, but never really got into it. She has recently been fascinated with figure skating, but we are obviously in the wrong season for that. So I’m excited to have her wanting to learn more about gymnastics and now both J and E want to watch the Olympic games. I even found the original Nadia movie on YouTube and will be letting the girls watch that at some point in the near future.
One of the things that I love about non-fiction picture books is getting kids excited about topics that for whatever reason that don’t know much about. When I was a kid growing up in Los Angeles, not only were there lots of kids doing gymnastics, but we were family friends with an Olympic gymnast so there was a lot of interest. I love that we managed t drum up some interest in a great Olympic sport at just the right time.
I first found out about this book because of a post of upcoming new releases from KidLitFrenzy, the host of the non-fiction picture book challenge. I have learned of so many awesome titles because of this weekly link-up of awesome non-fiction picture books.
I plan to order this for a granddaughter’s birthday this month. She is one who “can’t sit still” & I think will love it. It is perfect timing, isn’t it? Thanks for the detailed review.
Thanks so much for sharing the info on this book – I have added it to my Amazon Wishlist with plans on reading it to my granddaughter!
So glad you liked it. I think the story is really amazing.