For most of us, the world of elite sports is something that we hear about in the news. It is also a world where we watch in awe, particularly when major events such as World or Olympic championships occur. With the Olympics taking place in Paris this summer millions of people around the world will be watching the events and some of the most popular will be the gymnastics. The author of this book, Eloise Smith is a former world class fencer and she wrote about this world in her first book “Sister to a Star”. Her new book has a slight change in direction, as she enters the world of young gymnasts.
The central character of this story is a young 12 year old called Pearl, who is fanatical about her gymnastics and is determined to follow her late mother’s dream and make it to the Great Britain team. When she and her best friend Ryan are chosen to attend an elite training centre called ‘Leaping Spires’, they are thrilled and understand that it will require all of their grit an determination to succeed. However, what neither of them expects, is discovering that there are dangers to be faced and not just from their exercises. The centre seems to be suffering from more than the average number of injuries, so that Pearl begins to suspect that some form of sabotage is at play. The problem is, who can she trust and who is carrying out the sabotage?
This is a fantastic story that looks at a world which most of us know very little about. However we have seen instances over the last few years where trainers and coaches have been accused of bullying, harassing and even worse. The author has really brought the whole sport alive for us and I am sure that any young gymnast will be absolutely enthralled by the plot, characters and the information about the various types of equipment and the moves associated with them. However, there are several really important themes that are brought into focus in this story. The first is the sense of loss that Pearl feel at the death of her mother, who was also her trainer; this leads to her total fixation on succeeding, but in doing so , she misses the fact that others are also suffering from this loss. Perhaps the most chilling element of the story is the way that the trainers expect the gymnasts to push themselves beyond what is healthy or wise and to put their sport before family, friends and normal life. We have to remember that Pearl is just a 12 year old girl who has suffered a great loss and is clinging on to the one certainty in her life. However, she is confused by what she sees and hears and even begins to mistrust her greatest friends, so I raced through the book with my fingers crossed that all would be well.
What a real cliff-hanger of a story which really moves along at a tremendous pace. This is helped by the fact that the chapters are very short and you think “one more chapter” before going to bed. The characters are fantastic and the reader becomes truly involved in what is going on. The fact that we are now in an Olympic year will only add to the enthusiasm for this story and I consider it as one of my 5 star choices for this year.
The Author
(from her website
Me, a little over-excited.
In my former lives I’ve been an Olympian, triple Commonwealth fencing gold medallist, Oxford English graduate and award-winning executive creative director in advertising. Now I’m a children’s author, following my wildest dream of all . . .
My first book draws on my experiences in fencing and film sets: Sister To A Star is a thrilling mystery about warring twins in a swash-buckling Hollywood movie. My second book uses my understanding of high-level sport: Winner Takes Gold is a gripping adventure about sabotage on an elite gymnastics camp.
In my spare time I relax by skiing, climbing, running and yoga. All while raising two boys who bring me more joy than all my dreams put together.
This is one of those books that takes you by surprise, in the best possible way. It is the story of Leon and his mother Caroline as they navigate the many pitfalls that could occur as a result of Leon’s firm ideas about what is acceptable, due to his diagnosis of Asperger’s. We begin the story as Leon is starting at his 7 x new school (he is very precise about the number of schools) in Blackpool. Things do not get off to a good start when he makes a comment about the Afro hairstyle of a girl called Tanya. After this very rocky episode, he also makes the acquaintance of a boy called Lawrence, who announces that he also has Asperger’s. Both boys find themselves the target of the school bully, Glen and have to avoid him and his gang of followers. When you add in the fact that Tanya has dyslexia and Caroline has secretly had a boyfriend for 6 months, then the scene is set for an explosion of misunderstandings .
form of friendship. Leon is the most amazing character and to begin with he feels very difficult to feel sympathy for. He is so rigid in his thoughts and habits, but does not understand that this is somehow different from the majority of people. Even his food has to be served in the same way, with a very set menu for the week. However, I am completely in awe of Leon’s collection of chocolate, he not only has an encyclopedic knowledge of different types of chocolate bar/sweet, but he has a room lined with drawers containing samples and the room itself is thermostatically controlled and kept at 18.3 degrees Celsius; basically this is like the RHS seedbank, but for chocolate!
and extremely funny story. The author has been thrilling us with her first series “Who Let the Gods Out” and I am sure that I was not the only person suffering from withdrawal symptoms when that series finished. I need not have worried because she has come back with a complete ‘humdinger’ of a plot and a feisty and completely awesome heroine called Valentine Day (yes, really).
to stop them. the problem is how will she achieve this and who can she trust to help her. The world seems to be full of villains, recovering villains, spies and robowars aficionados. Vi also discovers that not only is her mum a retired spy but so is her grandmother and several generations before that; so it is no wonder that she has this need to investigate things. The plot moves at a tremendous pace and it really does need you to hang on to your hat as the action moves forward.
WHALE and her children’s poetry has been published in Caterpillar magazine. Her career began as a TV journalist, writing for The Daily Telegraph and TV Times magazine and she still regularly broadcasts her views on anything from politics to parenthood on BBC Radio 2 and the bus.