What Are the Winter Olympics?

What was...?

by Gail Herman, Jake Murray (Illustrations), Who H.Q.

Grab your skis, ice skates, and snowboard and learn how the Winter Olympic Games became a worldwide phenomenal event watched by millions.

Although fans the world over have been fascinated by the modern Summer Olympics since 1896, the Winter Olympics didn't officially begin until 1924. The event celebrates cold-weather sports, displaying the talents of skiers, ice skaters, hockey players, and, most recently, snowboarding. Like its summer counterpart, the Winter Games are dedicated to bringing together the world's top athletes to honor their talents and see who gets to stand on the medal podium. Gail Herman covers it all in a wonderful read--the highs, such as the 1980 US hockey team's unexpected gold medal grab, as well as the lows, including the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan figure-skating scandal in 1994. Includes 80 black-and-white illustrations and a 16-page photo insert.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, History

112 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 2021

About the author

Gail Herman, formerly a children's book editor in New York City, has written picture books, easy-to-reads, and chapter books, including many titles in the Who Was/What Was series. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her family.

Reviews

[Lyla Rouleau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much in this book and can’t wait for the winter Olympics that are coming up soon.It has us about the timelines of the Olympics and the disasters in between. I get to learn about people who were famous in the Olympics and all the new sports. if you are a person who wants to learn about the winter Olympics then you can learn about it here

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I love the Olympics and this book taught me a lot about the Winter Olympics.

[Liesl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like What Are the Summer Olympics?, this book provides a concise presentation of the winter Olympics for the younger crowd, dividing the material up into chapters organized by time period. Many notable athletes are covered throughout history, with several refreshingly from countries other than the United States to give a more global perspective. Although the book tried to cover a wide variety of sports, at times it does feel a little heavy on figure skating content.

[Chelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book had me taking breaks every once in a while to do a little internet digging to learn more things. It did a great job of covering most of the sports held during the Winter Olympics and the history of them.

[Tressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good primer ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics for kids. I would have liked longer chapters and more details, though.

[Rachel McDonell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never loved non-fiction, but this book 📖 was really good, and since it was the Winter Olympics, I wanted to read it.🙂

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much was left out. Could have been so much better.

[Johannamarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

very informative read.

[Ivanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The setting of this book is PyeongChang south Korea, And Albertville France. This book is about many people who competed in the winter Olympics. People were interested in winter Olympics, like Shaun White he lived in San Diego. He loved skateboarding and he decided he could use his skills for snowboarding. When he would take family trips to places with snow he would practice snowboarding .In 2018 Shaun White went to the winter Olympics held in PyeongChang south Korea. Nobody thought he would win. He was competing the U-shaped course, he had to do lots of twisting going side to side and flipping. Surprisingly after this challenging Olympics, he won two gold medals. Now we are moving on to Bonnie Blair. Bonnie Blair was already a star when she came to Albertville France for the 1992 winter Olympics. I would recommend this as it help encourage you to follow your dreams.

[Sueb · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite in this series that I usually really like.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover reminded me of a biography series for kids I used to like, so I decided to check it out. It's full of lots of fun facts and stories from the Winter Olympics since the 1920's.

[Kristi Clemow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the series - a lot of specific stories about people in the Olympics but not that much about the history of the games over time.