Champion Reads to celebrate the Olympic Games!
There are so many amazing Olympics-inspired sporting stories and activity books to get you ready to enjoy all the action. Here are some of our favourites:
The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog Goes for Gold by Jeremy Strong
(Penguin, £5.99, ISBN: 9780141339962)
GUESS what’s coming to town?! The Animal Games! All the animal athletes in Trevor’s town are hopping with excitement. There’s going to be show jumping for horses and rabbits, racing and Discus for Dogs – and of course, Trevor simply _has_ to enter the Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog! Streaker is going to go for GOLD! But although Streaker is as fast as a rocket, she’s also much naughtier! Mum says even a CARROT is more obedient! Can Trevor groom his dotty dog into a champ before the animal Olympics hit town.
My Story: Berlin Olympics by Vince Cross
(Scholastic Children’s Books, £6.99, ISBN:9781407130354)
As 2012 Olympic fever grips the world, My Story winds the clock back to 1936 – the year the Olympics took place in Nazi Germany. London-born Eleanor Rhys Davies finds her dream coming true when she is selected to represent Britain as a swimmer. But Berlin under Hitler is a hostile place, and she is witness to the murmurings that will erupt into World War II…
Winnie Goes for Gold by Laura Owen and Korky Paul
(Oxford University Press, £4.99, ISBN: 9780192758248)
The hapless witch with a heart of gold has been bitten by Olympic fever. Now winsome Winnie is raring to go! Throwing parties, saving the planet, minding the baby; she’s zapping new-found energy into everything she does. And at the school sports day, Winnie’s wacky magic lets _everybody_ go for gold! The world’s favourite witch takes to the podium yet again in four new stories, brought alive by Korky Paul’s energetic illustrations – and Winnie’s trusty sidekick, Wilbur the cat!
SpongeBob: The Big Win
(Simon and Schuster, £3.99, ISBN: 9780857076229)
SpongeBob and his friends can’t wait to compete in the Bikini Bottom Relay Race! But Squidward gets so caught up in chasing the golden prize that he starts ruining the fun for everyone. Can the team show Squidward that taking part isn’t just about winning? A fantastically funny early reader with an important moral about teamwork, starring our square-panted hero and all the ocean gang!
Olympia the Games Fairy
(Orchard, £5.99, ISBN: 9781408315965)
Kirsty and Rachel are on a day out to watch a triathlon – a big three-part race where the athletes have to run, cycle and swim. But when the competitors start swimming round in circles, it’s clear that all is not well! Never one to play fair, pesky Jack Frost has stolen Olympia the Games Fairy’s three magical objects, and now sporting events everywhere are going haywire. Can the girls beat him at his own game? If not, the Melford Triathlon and the Fairyland Games will both be doomed to chaos!
Team GB and Paralympics Activity Book
(Carlton, £4.99, ISBN: 9781847328984)
Get behind your team for London 2012! Grab the lowdown on the top GB stars and the events they’ll compete in! A great way to warm up for the Games and find out more about your favourite athletes, this activity book will get your sporting knowledge into tip-top shape. It’s bursting with exciting photo snaps of star athletes in action, plus inspiring stories, things to make and do, quizzes, puzzles and games. Don’t stand on the sidelines as the Olympics approach! Get active and shout out your support! Includes over 50 stickers.
Doodle Your Dreams: I want to be a Gold Medallist
(Scholastic Children’s Books, £4.99)
Don’t just sit on the sidelines! Sketch your way to Olympic stardom and be first to the finish line! Jam-packed with livewire stories, doodles and puzzles to celebrate the 2012 Olympic Games, this is the creative way to make your mark upon the sporting world. Draw your perfect stadium, design a team tracksuit and sketch your sporting superstars. Or leave the competition behind and picture the perfect victory that will bag you a gold medal! Whether you’re a would-be athlete or aspiring artist, go for glory and dare to doodle your dreams! Includes stickers.
Olympic and World Records 2012
(Carlton, £9.99, ISBN: 9781780970806)
It’s the biggest sporting event on the planet – and now it’s in the UK! As Olympic fever hits, see what the greats are playing for with ALL the must-know feats and records! At London 2012, over 4000 athletes from up to 208 countries will compete in front of a global television audience of 6.7 billion. As the athletes line up for the most revered spectacle in world sport, get YOUR knowledge into shape by checking out what they have to beat! Written by leading sports journalist Keir Radnedge, this book collects together the most staggering and surprising records in Olympic history in action-packed pictures and gripping statistics. It celebrates the legends created by some of the best-known names in sports, which today are etched into popular folklore.
Flaming Olympics by Michael Coleman
(Scholastic Children’s Books, £5.99, ISBN: 9781407131818)
Get in shape for London 2012 with this fiery guide to the Games! From 776 BC to the present day, the Olympics have been blazing the way for sport for nearly 3000 years. Now you can get all the horrible facts, from the absolute torch-ure of Flaming Olympic training to the most scorching performances ever! What was the a perilous pig chase? Which sport includes the ‘naked strangle’? How did Tarzan become a gold medal winner? With 300 quiz questions on every Olympic event, this book will keep you hooked right up until the closing ceremony!
Danny Baker’s Silly Olympics: Wibbly Wobbly Belly Flop by Steve Hartley
(Macmillan, £5.99, ISBN: 9781447208129)
The world’s naughtiest record breaker is back – taking his revolting records all the way to the Olympics! Cheer Danny on as he bravely attempts to break the world record for the wibbliest, wobbliest belly flop. The competition is tough, but Danny is determined to splat his way to a gold medal – and a new world record! And that’s not all. He and his friends will also go for gold in Custard Pie Flinging, Loud Trumping and Picking Up Baked Beans While Wearing Boxing Gloves! Does triumph await them? Or will it all end in despair? A bumper bind-up of the first two Danny Baker tales (The World’s Biggest Bogey and The World’s Awesomest Air-Barf) plus a sensational new story – The Silly Olympics!
Running In Her Shadow by Robert Rigby
(Carlton Books, £5.99, ISBN: 9781847327635)
A gifted track and field athlete, Megan Morgan has all the makings of a true Olympic superstar. Whether sprinting, jumping or hurdling, her body moves like quicksilver and her sporting dreams look set to become reality. Backing Megan all the way is her determined mother. A promising athlete in her youth, she will not rest until her daughter competes for Team GB. But where is the line between love and obsession? And how much parental pressure can Megan withstand?
Parallel Lines by Robert Rigby
(Carlton Books Ltd, £5.99, ISBN: 9781847327505)
Blessed with twin talents, Sam Warder appears to have it all. A lightning fast scrum-half on the rugby pitch, he also performs feats of strength and agility as a gymnast on the parallel bars. But as the London 2012 Games approach, Sam is at a crossroads. Any injury he picks up playing rugby could mean the end of his gymnastic future. Flying in the face of peer pressure, he decides to leave the rugby squad. And then the threatening text messages begin… Can Sam hold fast to his Olympic odyssey in a school where rugby is a religion? Or will the cyber-bullying draw him back into the danger of the scrum?
Wheels of Fire by Robert Rigby
(Carlton Books Ltd, £5.99, ISBN: 9781847328137)
Rory Temu is unstoppable on his battered BMX. Weaving and dodging though the Edinburgh streets, there’s no obstacle he won’t tackle. Such brilliance on a bike could take Rory far – maybe even to Olympic heights. But a gang on the streets has been watching closely, and the members have their own plans for Rory’s talents. Rory has a gift and he knows it. But can he keep his balance over such rough terrain?
Deep Waters by Robert Rigby
(Carlton Books Ltd, £5.99, ISBN: 9781847327642)
Lucy Chambers lives to swim. Tipped as a future Paralympian, she has watched the new Aquatics Centre rise up near her London home, and hopes to make a real splash there in 2012. But the ripples of Lucy’s success have reached her mother, Sarah, who rejected her soon after she was born. Both mother and daughter share a passion for swimming – but is now the right time to start sharing each other’s lives? For Lucy, the waters have never been deeper…
