Gymnast Commandos

The Gymnasts #17

by Elizabeth Levy

Gymnast teams compete at camp to capture the forts of the other teams... and perhaps capture the hearts of their own teammates boyfriends.

Genres: Sports, Childrens

105 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1991

About the author

Elizabeth Levy has been writing and publishing books for over thirty years and sometimes now she meets kids whose parents read her books when they were children! She has written over 80 books, a number that continues to surprise her, as it surprises her how long she's been at it.

Over the years they've printed lots of her books - over five million of them.

She loves to try writing different types of books - everything from funny mysteries to novels about kids who get in trouble to history.

One of the most pleasant surprises about writing is that she's been invited to travel all over the country and even the world speaking to children, teachers, and librarians. She's made some wonderful friendships and gotten lots of ideas for her books. One of the most special treats is that kids have drawn wonderful pictures of one of her favorite characters, Fletcher.

She grew up in Buffalo, New York, then went to Brown University, where she majored in history. When she graduated, she came to New York City and worked for ABC-TV and then for Senator Robert Kennedy. She has lived in New York ever since, and she loves it. She knows all the best places for salami, she has run four marathons, and she has completed many 5-borough bike tours, so she thinks she really knows this place well.

At certain times of the year, she can be found out at Shea Stadium watching her team, the New York Mets. She has always loved baseball.

Mostly she enjoys hanging out with her friends. They spend lots of time going to movies or plays, playing sports, having meals together.

When she's alone and not writing, she is usually reading. She reads mysteries a lot, always has, which is probably why many of her books are mysteries.

Reviews

[Micaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this short book after years and years I forgot how quick the story is but how lengthy it used to feel. All the camp nostalgic feels I could ask for.

Also realized this book/series is very progressive for its publishing date in the 90’s, I think having a POC as one of the main characters and talking about overcoming eating disorders is pretty great all considered!

[Kate H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is a bit cheesy but I loved it growing up because I always wanted to take gymnastics but we did not have the funds to afford it. It is fairly realistic in the level of skill that girls obtain and it gives you plenty of gymnastics whilst still allowing for real lie stories and difficulties in the books.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not one of the better ones! Very little gymnastics at all since they're all at a sports camp up in the woods. The main focus of the story, apart from Becky trying to steal Chris away from Darlene, is about a giant "capture the flag" type of war game the campers all play. Seemed a little strange how there's about a hundred campers, only four or five forts to capture, and yet Darlene, Heidi, Ashley, Lauren and Ti An all end up in one group with just one other guy. I guess that works better though than introducing a whole bunch of new characters just for the one book! I loved the way Ti An won the game for them all as well, she's a clever cookie. :D