Olympics

Have you been following the Olympics in London?  At least for these three weeks, all of us channel our inner athlete and dream our own gold medal moments.  Children, especially, can be motivated to strive for physical fitness and enjoy the exhilaration of participating in sports.  We have lots of books about the Olympics, motivating sports-related stories and books set in London.  After seeing the city of London on the world stage, read about this well-chronicled city, so often a literary setting for mysteries!

Olympics have an ancient tradition.  Follow its history in A Passion for Victory .  Older children and adults will be able to read highlights of famous Olympics in this new, well-illustrated history.

  Great Moments in the Summer Olympics are chronicled by Matt Christopher, the classic sports author for children.  High-Tech Olympics points out the amazing changes that have taken place in equipment, training, timing, and the inclusion of disabled athletes. 

Lake Forest boasts of at least one Olympic team member in native son Matt Grevers, the gold medal swimmer.  Young readers will be amazed by the training regime he and fellow swimmer Michael Phelps undergo in How to Train with a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals.  Chicago’s own Michael Jordan played on the U.S. Olympic basketball team in 1984.

His mother recounts simply the determination it took for him to become an Olympian in Dream Big.  Read this to your children before bed, so they can “dream big” too!

John Feinstein, sports writer and author for adults and children, takes us to this summer’s Olympics with Rush for the Gold: Mystery at the Olympics. 

 Fans of his previous sports mysteries know how his sense of immediacy and realism add to the enjoyment of the story.  Readers of the Magic Tree House series can go  to ancient Greece with Jack and Annie in Ancient Greece and the Olympics and learn more about what they read in Hour of the Olympics.

As Emily Dickinson is oft quoted,  There is no frigate like a book. To take us to lands away.  If seeing London makes you want to visit, read The London Eye Mystery.  Younger readers will enjoy the adventures of Dodsworth in London.