The Gymnast

by Joanne Slazyk

Gymnastics is like flying and Riley is ready to soar.

Fourteen-year-old Riley lives for gymnastics. The beam and vault are her very breath. So when a setback causes her to lose her spot as a level eight gymnast on the Stick Squad team, she does what she has to―she finds another gym. Fitting in at the new gym feels impossible, but at least she can still tumble and train for the upcoming Regional Gymnastics Championships. Unfortunately, a former teammate will stop at nothing to keep Riley from competing. Can Riley ignore the hate and prove that she deserves to be at the meet?

Genres: Fiction

115 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 23, 2023

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great book for young readers. I like a book that takes the protagonist outside of their comfort zone and helps them see outside of themselves.

14-year-old Riley is living her dream of training to be a professional gymnast. When her father loses his job, they can no longer afford her gym fees.

When Riley finds a new gym to train at, she makes a deal to coach in turn to cover the fees for her training. She quickly learns that despite her family situation, she is more fortunate than others and can use her skills to help others.

[TJ Noelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I've wanted to sign my future little ones up for gymnastics since I was about 22. We still don't have any but I'm glad I read this because I would have made a fool of myself.. much like the author I called a back tuck a back flip and I've watched gymnastics in the summer olympics since I was about 4. Loved this book and buying it for my nieces to read.

[Kaylin Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute story! It’s targeted for a younger age group, but the story overall was cute!
There’s just enough drama to pull you in and keep wanting more! The ending tied it all together perfectly!

[Aubree Obermeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story the people in this story do really cool tricks and I cannot believe that Nia, a five- year old does such good tricks for a five- year old

[Lauren Morro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book

I love the story about the underdog gym and the drama between the friends. Definitely recommend Joanne Slazyk as an author!

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick gymnastics read for the middle grade crowd, and if I'm honest I wasn't expecting all too much. But The Gymnast was a pleasant surprise: in it, Riley—a talented gymnast—has to switch gyms when a change in circumstances means that her parents can no longer pay her gym fees. The new gym is an adjustment, to say the least. But...what I like best is that Riley ends up focusing just as much on Nia, a younger gymnast whose parents struggle even more financially than Riley's, as she does on her own gym circumstances.

A lot of the conflict does come from a "mean girl" plot, which I'm never thrilled about—it's a popular plotline for a reason, but I think it's overdone. The mean girl is afforded some complexity, but the other "bad" character is not, and I'd just much rather see fully realized characters with the good and the bad worked in. I'd also have liked to see more of Riley's teammates, old and new; there's a minor plotline involving the new teammates, but they just don't have enough time to get fleshed out.

With all that in mind—a solid read. I will not be reading the next book in the series (because it is about golf), but I can see this one at least being a very good fit for tweenagers or thereabouts.