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June 23, 2009

New Michael Phelps book for kids

michael phelps bookThere's a new children's book from the Michael Phelps/Alan Abrahamson team, whose No Limits chronicled the swimmer's record-shattering performance at the Beijing Olympics. Here's an excerpt from a review of How to Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, a book that Sun sports reporter Kevin Van Valkenburg approached  cynically:

"I wanted to make a bunch of jokes about a cartoon version of Phelps telling a cartoon Ms. California that everyone deserves the right to get married, and reminding kids that cell phone cameras will be confiscated every time he and his cartoon posse walk into a room. But the truth is - and maybe this is the result of having a kid of my own on the way - I kind of liked it. There isn't exactly a narrative there, and the inclusion of a Tyrannosaurus Rex makes very little sense, even in the illogical world of children's books. But it has a nice message and some cool illustrations by Ward Jenkins. ...

"The main lesson ... is that you need to work hard to achieve your dreams, but it's really a book about math. From 1998 to 2003, Phelps swam 60,000 meters a week, which amounts to 12,480 miles over six years. How does Phelps help kids understand how far that is? With a picture of him swimming to the North Pole and back, and then his coach telling him to do it again. And a picture of him swimming the length of the Great Wall of China three times.

"All this builds to the revelation that in Phelps' last individual race, the 100-meter butterfly, he won by one one-hundredth of a second. The length of a finger nail. It's a nice lesson to teach kids, that you can work ridiculously hard for a long time and accomplish your goals by the slimmest of margins.

"And as Phelps can attest, only the cynic who doesn't work hard enough would dare suggest that childhood fantasies can't become a reality."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:00 AM | | Comments (2)
        

Comments

Congrats Michael! (: I LOVE YOU!!

When is will he be doing book signings?? May I suggest the Children's Bookstore in Roland Park???

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About the bloggers
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, Nancy Knight grew up reading nearly everything she could get her hands on, including a probably unhealthy amount of R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike, with the obligatory Jane Austen thrown in. She'll still read just about anything you put in front of her, especially the funny or weird. She lives in the city with her books, cat and drum set.

Dave Rosenthal came to The Baltimore Sun as a business reporter in 1987 and now is an assistant managing editor and Sunday editor. He reads a wide range of books (but never as many as he'd like), usually alternating between non-fiction and fiction. Some all-time favorites: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole; Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery; and anything by Calvin Trillin or John McPhee. He belongs to a book club with a Jewish theme.
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