Pamela McDowell's Blog - Posts Tagged "biography"

Researching this biography was a lot of fun – Phelps is an interesting guy with an interesting story. There are always a few things I can’t squeeze into my books, including a few little tidbits about Phelps’s training program. His kick is phenomenal, using all the power of his quadriceps. One of the drills Phelps uses to strengthen these muscles is vertical kicking – in the deep end of the pool – while holding a 15 pound weight over his head. Give that a try the next time you’re in the pool. Or try just keeping vertical with your head above water, without using your arms. How long do you think you could keep that up?

And did you know that Phelps’s arm span is 10 centimetres longer than his height? That creates a wonderful advantage in swimming that the average person can’t achieve, no matter how hard they train. And funny note: the ration of arm span to height is called the ape index. Really! You can calculate your ape index at http://www.ape-index.com/ Go bananas!

Writing biographies for the Remarkable People series is always lots of fun. Adele's spontaneity has provided many interesting quotes, not all of which made it into this book. She spoke of the surgery to her vocal cords in 2011, saying "I think I needed to be silenced. And when you are silent, everyone else around you is silent... It was like I was floating in the sea for three weeks. It was brilliant. It was my body telling me to fix me." Artists like John Mayer, Roger Daltry, Steven Tyler and Elton John reassured her that the surgery would be a success, that her voice would survive. And it did. Her first public performance after the surgery was at the 2012 Grammy Awards, where she wowed the audience. Check it out! http://youtu.be/ZmdcD22VrAU And you can test your knowledge of Adele trivia in a quiz based on the book.

Martin Luther King Day isn't just another holiday in the United States, it is a time to look back at how far we have travelled on the road to equality - and to look forward to how far we have to go. You can test your knowledge of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his accomplishments with this quiz. The information can all be found in the biography I wrote for Grades 3 - 5 students - except for the last question, which is a bit of a bonus question. Have fun and let me know how well you do!