Lance Armstrong

Amazing Athletes

by Sandy Donovan

Chronicles the life of the American cyclist and cancer survivor who won six consecutive Tour de France races.

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Camie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too simplistic, even for a kid’s book. And completely avoided any issue of controversy. (But I think perhaps it was written before all the doping allegations.)

[Kelly Grimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.Personal reaction- I really enjoyed this book because of the bright colors used on every page to capture my attention. Turning each page, I learned something new about Lance Armstrong in a very direct way. Each page didn’t go into full depth detail. Instead, it provided me with quick facts about Lance that were dominate in his life. The book didn’t focus on little events that happened throughout his life. The book focused on providing information on events that shaped and changed his life.

2. Purpose-
This would be a great book to read during a health unit. First, this book would be a great read aloud during a health unit because the book goes into brief detail about Lance and his fight against cancer. Students will learn about cancer and its effects on the body. For example, chemotherapy is explained in the book and is briefly described to help students understand what it is, why it’s used, and the effects it has on the body. Second, this is a great read aloud during a health unit because students will learn the concept of self-confidence. Throughout the book, it explains how Lance never gave up when he was even told that he would die a year later after discovering his cancer. But Lance always kept positive and pushed through the cancer. Not only did he push through the cancer, he pushed in his cycling career and wins the first Tour de France.

This book would be a great independent read for students who have an interest in cycling. Students don’t have to be entirely interested with professional cycling; they can even just enjoy riding their bikes around the neighborhood. Having this interest in just riding a bike will grab student’s attention in reading this book. Students will learn through the biography that maybe one day they will trade their little bike to a professional cycling bike. Students will enjoy this book because of the shared interest with a professional, Lance Armstrong, of riding a bike.

This book provides a glossary at the end of the book to help students with any words they may have come across while reading the biography. The book also provides an index at the end of the book to help students refer back to the book and be able to find exactly where a concept, term, or event was discussed in the book. The book also provides a short timeline of key events in Lance Armstrong’s career. This will provide students with a clear understanding of the main events that shaped Lance Armstrong’s cycling career. The book also provides captions under each picture. The captions provide one sentence giving a brief description of what the picture is about or how it is relevant to Lance Armstrong’s life.

3. The pictures throughout the book helped me and will help students get a feel for whom Lance really is. On each page there is 1 or more real photo of Lance throughout his life. This allowed me to see how Lance progressed throughout his cycling career. The pictures also allowed me to see when Lance struggled and helped me see how weak he was when he battled cancer. The photos after then allowed me to see how he recovered and gained strength to push and succeed in his career.

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lance Armstrong
By Sandy Donovan
32 pages
Nonfiction
Biography

Lance Armstrong is a biography about, shocker, Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong is a bicyclist who won many races in his life time. Lance is the only person to win six Tour de France titles. He almost died from cancer during his bicycling career. After battling cancer he made a complete come back to the world of bicycling by winning his first race back. Lance has practiced hard and well since he was a little boy and all his practice ended up paying off.

I thought this was a good book about following your dreams and working hard to reach them. Lance Armstrong was a very hard worker and accomplished much in his career because of it. He really loved what he did and it shows because even after battling cancer he started right back up again doing what he loved. Lance worked hard to follow his dreams. This is a lesson that I think everyone should learn, hard work pays off. I recommend this book to any one who wants a biography that’s inspirational and an easy read.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome ! I really enjoyed it. He sounds like a hard working man.