A Book That Teaches Kids That Winning Isn’t Everything
After I read this book to my one-and-a-half year old daughter, all she wanted to do was run.
The Sporty Kids series of books is delightful. Written by Felice Arena and illustrated by Tom Jellett, the books are fun and easy to read. They teach kids about sport and also address issues that kids involved in sport will face. The publisher recommends that they are suitable for beginner readers 6-9 years of age. As I found, however, younger children can enjoy having the books read to them.
Sporty Kids Little Athletics revolves around Lucy, a young girl who loves to run and is “…so fast that she always won”. That is until a “new girl” arrives and Lucy has to learn to deal with the consequences.
The book deals with themes such as handling defeat, sportsmanship, friendship, and how kids’ sport is not all about winning. We see that sport is for everyone, whether they are competitive or just there to have fun.
As a coach I loved the inference that young athletes might perform best when they are relaxed, having fun and not so focused on beating others. This is a great lesson and my philosophy entirely!
Along the way the reader also learns about Little Athletics as the children compete in sprinting, long jump and shot put.
The book concludes with some Awesome Athletics Facts and Lucy’s Favourite Athletics Jokes, my “winner” being:
“What did the long jump say to the high jump?Hi, Jump!”
I highly recommend this book and having read several other Sporty Kids titles (Sporty Kids: Swimming and Sporty Kids: Footy) intend to collect the whole series
I look forward to when my daughter is old enough to enjoy reading these books herself.
Further reading
See the other Sporty Kids series titles available from Booktopia HERE.
Check out some other resources that I recommend HERE.
NOTE: There are links on this page from which Coaching Young Athletes can earn a small commission. This adds no cost to you but helps to keep this blog sustainable. I really appreciate if you do purchase through my links. Please know that I only recommend books that I use and love myself, and all opinions expressed in this review are my own. Thanks for your support. Darren
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Darren Wensor is a sports development professional, coach educator, specialist coach of young athletes, and founder of the blog coachingyoungathletes.com. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, or via email. Check out Coaching Young Athletes on YouTube, the Coaching Young Athletes podcast, and the Coaching Young Athletes E-Book Series.
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