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    Trailblazers: Simone Biles
    Trailblazers: Simone Biles
    Trailblazers: Simone Biles
    Ebook203 pages1 hour

    Trailblazers: Simone Biles

    By Sally J. Morgan

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Bring history home with you and meet some of the world's greatest game changers! Get inspired by the true story of the most award-winning American gymnast. This biography series is for kids who loved Who Was? and are ready for the next level.

    In August 2016, American gymnast Simone Biles won four Olympic gold medals! Her irresistible smile, fierce determination, and unbeatable strength have made her a favorite around the world. Find out how the girl who taught herself to flip on her backyard trampoline blazed a trail in gymnastics.

    Trailblazers is a biography series that celebrates the lives of amazing pioneers, past and present, from all over the world. Get inspired by more Trailblazers: Neil Armstrong, Jackie Robinson, Jane Goodall, Harriet Tubman, Albert Einstein, Beyoncé, and Simone Biles. What kind of trail will you blaze?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Children's Books
    Release dateMay 5, 2020
    ISBN9780593124543
    Trailblazers: Simone Biles

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    • 4/5
      Great short biography of Simone Biles -- nice out-takes to explain various background pieces. Simone's autobiography is a little advanced for younger readers -- this takes a lot of the information and streamlines it. I also really appreciated that this has been updated for the last few years, so covers the time after her Olympic season, including taking time off, coming back, and addressing the sexual abuse situation that has recently come to light in high level women's gymnastics. This book takes that subject on with an empowering message that doesn't shirk from the situation, without graphic statements that might make it less appropriate for kids.

    Book preview

    Trailblazers - Sally J. Morgan

    Cover for Trailblazers: Simone BilesTRAILBLAZERS

    Neil Armstrong

    Jackie Robinson

    Harriet Tubman

    Jane Goodall

    Albert Einstein

    Beyoncé

    Stephen Hawking

    Simone Biles

    Book title, Trailblazers: Simone Biles, author, Sally J. Morgan, imprint, Random House Books for Young Readers

    Text copyright © 2020 by Sally J. Morgan

    Cover art copyright © 2020 by Luisa Uribe

    Interior illustrations copyright © 2020 by Emma Trithart

    Trailblazers logo design by Mike Burroughs

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Stephen Hawking text copyright © 2020 by Alex Woolf

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Stephen Hawking illustrations copyright © 2020 by David Shephard

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Stephen Hawking cover art copyright © 2020 by Luisa Uribe

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Beyoncé text copyright © 2020 by Ebony Joy Wilkins

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Beyoncé illustrations copyright © 2020 by Rachel Sanson

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Beyoncé cover art copyright © 2020 by Luisa Uribe

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Jackie Robinson text copyright © 2019 by Kurtis Scaletta

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Jackie Robinson illustrations copyright © 2019 by Artful Doodlers

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Jackie Robinson cover art copyright © 2020 by Luisa Uribe

    All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

    Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

    Visit us on the Web! rhcbooks.com

    Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Name: Morgan, Sally J., author.

    Title: Trailblazers: Simone Biles: Golden Girl of Gymnastics / by Sally J. Morgan.

    Description: New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2020 | Series: Trailblazers | Includes bibliographical references.

    ISBN 978-0-593-12452-9 (trade pbk.) — ISBN 978-0-593-12453-6 (lib. bdg.) ISBN 978-0-593-12454-3 (ebook)

    Ebook ISBN 9780593124543

    Created by Stripes Publishing Limited, an imprint of the Little Tiger Group

    Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

    v5.4

    a

    Contents

    Cover

    Other Titles

    Title Page

    Copyright

    Introduction

    Going for Gold

    Chapter 1

    Finding a Home

    Chapter 2

    First Steps on the Mat

    Chapter 3

    New Moves

    Chapter 4

    Big Decisions

    Chapter 5

    The Start of a Streak

    Chapter 6

    The Final Five

    Chapter 7

    The Next Rotation

    Conclusion

    Making History

    Timeline

    Further Reading

    Glossary

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Stephen Hawking

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Beyoncé

    Excerpt from Trailblazers: Jackie Robinson

    INTRODUCTION: GOING FOR GOLD

    On August 11, 2016, a young gymnast took her starting position on the floor in the individual women’s all-around final at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The crowd knew it was about to see something special. The spectators were witnessing history being made. Before them was then three-time world and four-time national all-around champion Simone Biles. The four-foot-eight-inch nineteen-year-old from Spring, Texas, was ninety seconds away from her dream of winning gold coming true.

    For a women’s artistic gymnast, a medal in the all-around competition is the most highly prized of the six events in the Olympic Games. Only the two highest-scoring gymnasts from each national team are allowed to take part. Simone was on a winning streak, unbeaten in all-around competition since 2013, and she was determined to win again.

    Simone had nailed her floor routine in practice countless times, but no matter how often she and her teammates told each other that it was just like practice to calm their nerves, pulling off the routine in a competition was different.

    The Ancient Olympic Games

    The first known Olympic Games were held in 776 BCE in Olympia, Greece—a town named after Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in the country and the mythical home of many ancient Greek gods and goddesses. To honor the greatest of these gods—Zeus—the Greeks built a sanctuary at Olympia where they could gather and worship him.

    Every four years, the best male athletes traveled to Olympia to compete. Women were not allowed to participate or even attend. At first the Olympic Games had just one event—a 600-foot (183 m) running race in the stadion, the ancient Greek predecessor of a modern-day stadium. Athletes had to compete naked!

    Between 724 BCE and 393 CE, more events were added, including chariot racing, wrestling, boxing, and javelin throwing. The games ended in 393 CE on the orders of the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian who banned all celebration of the ancient gods.

    The Modern Olympic Games

    The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896. As with the ancient games, only men were allowed to compete. In the Greek city of Athens, 241 athletes from 14 countries gathered to take part in 43 events, including swimming, shooting, weightlifting, and gymnastics.

    Winners in each event received a silver medal, a certificate, and an olive branch. Runners-up received a copper medal, a certificate, and a branch of laurel. Olive and laurel branches were symbols of victory for the ancient Greeks. Unlike in today’s Olympics, competitors who came in third received nothing.

    The first medalist was an American named James Connolly, who won the triple jump on day one of the games. He was the first Olympic champion in more than 1,500 years. To pay tribute to the ancient games, the face of Zeus was carved on one side of the medal. The Acropolis in Athens, Greece—the site of a number of ancient temples—was engraved on the other side.

    WOMEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

    Women’s physical strength and competitive spirit have not always been celebrated. Throughout history, many people believed that being strong and competitive was something only men should aim for. At the turn of the twentieth century, attitudes began to change. As women started to take part in sports, the demand for opportunities to compete increased. Women’s events were added to the Olympic Games in 1900; women could compete in tennis, sailing, croquet, golf, and horseback riding.

    Around this time, artistic gymnastics grew in popularity. Women saw the activity as a way to keep fit and healthy, and practiced it in social clubs in Europe and the United States. It was also introduced in some schools. The term artistic was originally used to differentiate its moves from exercises used by the military. Now there are other types of gymnastics, including rhythmic, where gymnasts use equipment such as a ribbon, a hoop, or a ball as part of their routines.

    Women’s artistic gymnastics was introduced at the 1928 Olympic Games, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The competition didn’t look

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