Nadia ~ The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still

 This is a perfect book for the season, especially if you have a gymnastics-crazy kid who cartwheels down the hall.

Nadia ~ The girl who couldn't sit still
by Karlin Gray; illus. by Christine Davenier
40 pages; ages 6-9
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016

Nadia Comaneci loved soccer, swimming, and climbing trees in the forests beyond her village of Onesti, Romania. "She didn't just climb the trees," writes Karlin Gray, "she swung from branch to branch until her family would call her home."

To find an outlet for all that energy, Nadia's mom signed her up for gymnastics classes. It would be great to just say ..."and the rest is history..." but that would ignore the years of hard work and learning that Nadia put into developing her skills on the bars and beam. It would ignore the falls and failures.

When she fell, Nadia picked herself up and brushed herself off and practiced some more until she perfected each move. Until she got first place in national competitions. Until she reached the Olympics in Montreal (1976). She whipped around the bars, balanced, flipped, and won the highest score ever - a perfect 10.

At the end of the competitions, Nadia took home five medals (three gold). Back home she did just what you'd expect a girl who couldn't sit still to do: keep on practicing.

On Monday  we're joining the roundup over at the Nonfiction Monday blog where you'll find even more book reviews Review copy provided by the publisher.