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

By Author / Illustrator

Scott Allen, illus Antoine Corbineau

Genre

Non Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Nosy Crow Ltd

ISBN

9781788007276

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

06-05-2021

Synopsis

An exciting, laugh-a-minute guide to every Olympic and Paralympic sport. From boxing to boccia, find out just what it takes to become an Olympic and Paralympic star in this hilariously informative guide to the games. For each sport you'll discover why it's great, why it's not so great, what skills and equipment you'll need to start practising and even how to sound like a pro!

You'll learn about some of the greatest Olympians in history, events that might appear in the future and there's a helpful guide to your chances of becoming a champion. With bold, energetic illustrations and a text packed with weird, wonderful and wildly hilarious facts written by former sports journalist Scott Allen, this gift book is the funniest guide you'll find to the next Olympics!

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Reviews

On Your Marks, Get Set...Gold! is a comprehensive non-fiction text allowing readers to find out everything they need to know about becoming a professional sportsperson. Covering every Olympic and Paralympic sport, this is the ultimate guide with fascinating facts, weird and wonderful information and eye-catching diagrams. Readers are also transported back in time to learn how the Olympics began, before being left to ponder how the Olympics might change in years to come.

The layout of the book is perfect for information retrieval. Each double page spread covers a different sport and is full of the information needed to acquire a good insight into it. Rules, skills, history and more are covered in a clear and factual manner which is accessible for young and old readers alike.

Scott Allen's words help deliver the knowledge fantastically and Antoine Corbineau's illustrations really engage you further into the book. I found myself being caught by the illustrations first and then using them to pick the sport I was then interested by. I feel that children would also find themselves doing the same.

Another beauty of this book is the way in which there is no set chronology, allowing readers to simply explore the pages and let their curiosity take the lead. Every aspect of this book has been carefully designed…from the bright bold colours on the front cover to the gold end pages.

This really is a wonderful text to look at, study and share. Even as a keen sports fan myself, I found myself lost in this book and learning new things about the sports I knew little about.

This text really is the perfect read for any sports fan - especially with the delayed summer Olympics due to take place in Tokyo this year. I will be sharing this with my KS2 children and envisage it being used as a great lure into books for some reluctant, but sporty, readers.

96 Pages / Reviewed by Kyle Matravers, teacher