On Your Marks, Get Set, Gold!: A Fact-Filled, Funny Guide to Every Olympic Sport

Got this for my Olympic loving 8yo and he loves it. Very informative and very funny even worth a read for an adult. Well worth buying as a guide for the next 2 weeks!

Perfectly rereleased for this years Olympic games this book is full of facts about the different sports in the games.The text and illustrations make this highly accessible to all and while aimed at children would easily amuse adults, well it did me and I'm not a big sport fan. The pages are well set out and brightly coloured.It starts with an introduction to the games and where it began, from the Ancient to the Modern, started in 1896, and has only missed 1916, 1940 and 1944 because of WW1 and WW2. The first time women competed was 1900, and the first Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were given out in 1904. The timeline on this page is excellent. The Paralympic Games began in 1960. At the end is a look at what could be included in the future.Mostly each sport has a double page spread. This details what the sport is, the equipment needed, rules, training, history, skills and injuries. And it tells us who is the best ever at that sport. Oh yes and the important words for the sport (with pronunciation guides) where needed. The details on each is well written and full.As I've already said I'm not a big sport fan (unless it's on two wheels and has an engine!) but I have always loved gymnastics so I will be watching that if nothing else. There are four pages for gymnastics as there is the standard equipment pages plus trampolining and rhythmic gymnastics too.Really good book, I know this is going to off the shelf at school straight away because we have so few sport books and the excitement is building for this years Olympics.Thanks to Sîan at Nosy Crow for this copy which I was very happy to receive.

Informative and funny, this is suitable for all ages. Brilliant author captures a great balance between keeping the kids engaged whilst learning! Highly recommend.