Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Winning Balance


Releasing Today!

"The Inspiring Story of a
Pint-Size American Gymnast
With a Big Smile and an Even Bigger Heart"
Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms
About - We have seen her compete in the 2008 Olympics. We saw her dance in Dancing with the Stars. Now, read Shawn Johnson's story behind all that. In her book, she will take you on the journey from her childhood to when she began Gymnastics to when she dreamed of winning a gold meddle in the Olympics to her dream coming true to the dancing competition to wondering what will be in her future, with all the triumphs, heart aches, and life lessons in between.
Author - Shawn Johnson with Nancy French
Publisher - Tyndale Momentum; An Imprint of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc
Age Group - 15 and up
Personal Opinion - Shawn Johnson's story is one to read. It gave insight into what it was like to be an athlete, a teen, and trying to be a normal person. It also gave me a chance to see things I didn't consider, such as what she was feeling and thinking during the Olympics and on Dancing with the Stars. She went though many trials and triumphs. The insights she makes in the book were moving and inspiring, such as the quotes at the beginning and "Lessons I've Learned" at the end of each chapter (I was even highlighting a bunch of them). The poetry she wrote and shared with the pages were beautiful and will be ones I go back to read from time to time.

A moving read and I think this is a book worth the time and money. Can't wait to share it with my mom, who might enjoy it a bit more because she has a special place for gymnastics in her heart, and others who want to hear Shawn's incredible journey.


Video -

Thought it would be fun to add Shawn's Beam routine
where she won a gold meddle in the 2008 Olympics.


Buy - Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tyndale,

Links - Learn more about Shawn Johnson here.

Special Notes - The book releases June 5, 2012
Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from the Tyndale Blogger Network.

To read, comment, and rate this and other reviews, stop by Bookworm.

2 comments:

  1. Hi! I came across this book review, I think I want to read it, but do you think it's appropriate for an 11 year old gymnast, like me? Thanks for your answer!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Meg, so sorry about taking so long in getting back to you. First, congrats on your aspirations as a gymnast, I hope you go far. Second, I think the book is very good and can be read by an 11 year old. But, the only thing that would make me hesitate recommending it to you is that Shawn Johnson briefly talks about finding out she had a stalker who got arrested and how she dealt with it. Now it isn't detailed or anything but I don't know how your parents would feel about you reading that. So here is what I recommend, here are the pages where the stalker info comes up, P. 168-174 and 229-230. Hope that helps and I hope your gymnastics is everything you hope it will be. :)

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