Product Description
The only biography series to include a section on career information. The "Ferguson Career Biographies" series tells the stories of some of the world's most influential and admired people, focusing on the subject's early education and training, challenges faced on the job, important mentors, and career achievements. Students follow each person's journey along one or more career paths and get a sense of the person's historical importance. These unique volumes present important information on each subject's career in a way that makes it easy to integrate into classroom and take-home assignments. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great book for MK fans and someone who wants to get better career and live happier
This book makes me become a huge fan of Michelle Kwan. She is my role model now. Cited from the book: Tom Collins, producer of the figure skating show Champions on Ice, echoed that sentiment. "I've been in skating 55 years and I've never seen anyone like Michelle Kwan handle things so well, good or bad. A lot of it was bad at the two Olympics, but she accepted her defeat with graciousness," he said.... That's why Olympic gold medalist wouldn't have made us love and admire her(Sara Huges) more than Michelle Kwan.-Peggy Fleming. Learn from Michelle, we'll get better career and live better and happier. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the accomplished figure skater Scott Hamilton, covering his life, career, and battle with testicular cancer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great read about a great champion!
Old and new fans of Scott Hamilton will enjoy reading about his triumphs both on and off the ice. Scott's signature sense of humor have carried him through sporting victories and personal challenges. Whether you're a figure skating fan or not, you'll cheer Scott's efforts to overcome childhood illness and recent testicular cancer. Skate on, Scott! ... Read more

Product Description
Based on the candid and sometimes startling conversations that YOU were never meant to hear, THE TONYA TAPES, written by award-winning author Lynda D. Prouse, chronicles the life of the world's most infamous female athlete -- TONYA HARDING -- revealing for the first time the whole truth of her difficult and amazing life on and off the ice. Based on actual, extensive interviews with Tonya Harding, and written with her collaboration, this is her story! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

FINALLY-THE REAL STORY COMES OUT!
THE TONYA TAPES is an incredibly fascinating revelation...Tonya (in her own voice)comes across as surprisingly caring and nice--characteristics rarely attributed to her because of her obvious toughness.

Aside from being one of the best pure athletes America has ever produced, Tonya Harding set an athletic standard which wasn't duplicated within the skating world for a generation; and she accomplished that without the help of more than a very small number of people who spurred her on.

This attractive, small woman epitomizes survival; and the book, thru Lynda Prouse's outstanding use of leading questions, does an excellent job enumerating what Tonya had to overcome, including the rough family problems, poverty, non-support from her national federation, her failed marriage and the overriding public doubt regarding her consistent denial that she would ever "hurt her friend, Nancy."

To this day, she retains that position, and never once has anything been proved to contradict it. Highly, highly recommended for people facing tough times and hard choices, for skating fans (of course), and for the worldwide millions who followed her trials and tribulations to see if she would 'make it'--and she has!A brilliant book.

Tonya on Oprah tells the story in this book
Tonya was on Oprah on 23 April and told her true harrowing tale about abuse at the hands of her ex-husband. Disagree with the nay-sayers, most of whom haven't read the book. Rape is never something to be fickle about. An honest, well written book with probing questions by Lynda Prouse and honest, heartfelt answers by a former champion olympian forced into a situation of life or death. Well worth buying.

Big Tonya Supporter, but Book is Difficult To Get Through
The book is basically Lynda Prouse's conversations with Tonya transcribed. It's not really a story, but reading two people's conversations. They are divided according to topics, but it is still difficult to get through because some of it is not in chronological order.

First off, I admire Lynda Prouse and Tonya Harding for transcribing her recorded tapes verbatim, and not leaving anything out. (Except there are parts that are edited out because she is embarrassed to make it public.)

However, there is a lot of unnecessary, mundane information that is not interesting and could've been cut to make a more smooth and easy consumption. It's frustrating when events are mentioned out of chronological order, and as a reader, I become confused at what happened when.

At times, I wished the book was a biography so it would be more straightforward, summarized and easy to get through.

Tonya is candid, and I support her.

I wished this was an easier book to get through.

Don't Bother
This book is disorganized, whinny, incoherent, almost unreadable. In fact, at some point I stopped trying to swim through this sludge, and threw the book away.

Misunderstood
The general impression of Tonya is that she assaulted and tried to disable a competing skater. As revealed in this book she only pled guilty to hindering prosecution by giving a false account of the assault. The account was only given after a gun was put to her head, and she was told she would be shot, if she testified otherwise.

Tonya at age 3 decided she wanted to skate. Surviving beatings, rape, thefts, sports injuries, failed marriages and car crashes, she won an Olympic medal, which was revoked on reports of the alleged assault.

What a ride! ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Children's Digest, published by Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc. on January 1, 1995. The length of the article is 1000 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Dorothy Hamill.(champion figure skater)(Faces in Sports)
Author: Judith P. Josephson
Publication: Children's Digest (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1995
Publisher: Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc.
Volume: v45Issue: n1Page: p32(4)

Article Type: Biography

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
From the moment her mom laced up her first pair of skates at age five, Michelle Kwan has been a natural on the ice. Graceful and determined, she sailed through her first competition when seven years old and has been winning ever since. Now, at seventeen, Michelle Kwan is poised for triumph at the 1998 Winter Olympics, training for gold and a glittering place in skating history.

This inspiring biography of the young skating superstar reveals the support and sacrifice that have propelled Michelle to the top: her close-knit family, the pressure to get a proper education while competing all over the world, the perseverance after she fell during competition and lost her number one status, and--of course-- the constant demand to create unforgettable skating performances.

A fascinating behind-the-scenes story of challenge and conquest, BORN TO SKATE recreates the magic and beauty of a life on the ice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Written like a bad soap opera
This was written like a bad soap opera.Details are over the top and too dramatic and the writing style goes over the top.The message becomes too obvious and just too much! There's a reason people are willing to sell this book for a penny. Not worth reading.

Slightly informing and incredibly brief
If you want to learn about Michelle Kwan, a girl who worked hard for her dreams, you're not getting it. You will read about Michelle Kwan, ice skating star. The book has one page, that's one measly page, of information BESIDES Michelle. I am writing a report on Michelle, and I am having the HARDEST time extracting information from this book. All it focuses on is her awards and later accomplishments. Where is all the information about her youth life? COULDN'T FIND IT!

Disappointing and inaccurate
I'm a huge fan of figure skating in general and Michelle Kwan in particular, but this book sounded like it was written by an over-enthusiastic child.A lot of the quotes were taken directly from interviews that the skaters had done on TV, the writing and grammar were sloppy, and there were a lot of details that were just plain wrong. Tonya Harding did NOT come in third at the 93 nationals; that was Tonia Kwiatkowski (whose parents, by the way, are named Phil and Corinne, not Shirley and Leonard).Epstein waxes poetic about Michelle's brilliant artistry in 93 and 94, when she really didn't begin to shine until the 95-96 season. And any time Michelle didn't win first place, Epstein acts like she was robbed.These may seem like petty gripes, but with all the well-written literature available about Michelle, this book's numerous errors cause it to fall far short of what we've come to expect in skating coverage.Do yourself a favor and read Michelle's own autobiography or either of the two better-researched books by Christine Brennan.

This book had very good detailing of how Kwan skated.
The book I read, "Born To Skate," was the best bool on a bibliography that I have ever read. The book had a lot of excellent detailing, which made the book sound a lot better. Michelle Kwan's storyabout her was interesting and educating. It talked about her dreams whenshe was little and how she made her dreams come true.

Her big dream wasto go to the olympics, which she did and to become a world figure skater,which she also did. She always lived up to her expectations in life. Shealways kept a smile on her face even when she was down.

This story aboutMichelle Kwan's life was so wonderful to read about, because everything waspositive about her attitude. Born To Skate was a good story about peopleliving up to their dreams and never letting go of them no matter what. Inthe story she said, "Always live up to your dreams!"

I loved this book!
This book, besides giving tons of information on Michelle, had a great little directory in the back about all the jumps and spins. It taught me how to do my first lutz! I loved this book like I said and I hope you will too, but only another figure skater could give it 5 stars. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the dynamic Canadian skater who successfully blended martial arts with figure skating to win the 1994 and 1995 World Championships. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Elvis Stojko: One of the greatest figure skaters of all time
This is a book about one of the all time great male figure skaters. The author has written book that will be enjoyed by either adult or child.The text is informative and the book is filled with pictures of this great skater.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as well as the three other books in the series.Anyone who loves figure skating will enjoy this book

The Early Bird Catches the Worm...
This is a fantastic book written by Linda.She sent me a copy of it (and the other three books - Scott, Michelle (Kwan), and Oksana), and this is deffinately my favorite.There's a lot of fantastic pictures, and great writing on Elvis, and who he is.At the beginning of each chapter, there's also a quote (by the skater), which really reflects his (or her) personality.If your just starting to learn about skating, don't worry, this book has been written in a way that is easy to understand, even by the beginner, and has a glossary at the end.See ya on the ice, -Kathy :) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Scott Hamilton Fireworks On Ice
This is a good basic bio of Scott Hamilton and I think it's a must read for Scott Hamilton fans of all age.There really is nothing new here, however you have to cull this information from various sources and it's nice to be able to read about the basics of this extraordinary athlete in one this one well written book.It's brief--as a book for youth should be and yet it covers the details of Scott's life very well.

There are a couple of inaccuracies I found - Scott debuted his new costume design in 1983, not 84--and he never landed a triple lutz/triple toe combination as stated-but nothing major.

The writing style is appropriate for youth without being overly simple.There are lots of good quality colorful pictures of Hamilton both as a child and as an amateur and pro.

This is a good book for young people, even if they aren't big fans of skating because Scott Hamilton is a wonderful role model for young people and this book well details the adversities he overcame in a positive way, w ... Read more

Product Description
This East German figure skater dominated the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988. Born into a failing Communist society, Katarina saw skating as the only way out of a bleak and unfulfilling future.

The Olympic Games never lose their magic. Time and time again, on thetrack, on the bars, and on the ice, Olympic athletes capture theimaginations of people all over the world. The stories of young peoplewho have struggled against adversity to earn their place in thespotlight are those that inspire us the most. The Olympic Gold!series presents these stories and honors international heroes whosededication and discipline earned them the greatest prize in sports.

Grades 3-7; 7 x 9; 64 pages; More than 30 color and black-and-white illustrations; Sturdy library binding; Glossary; Further Reading; Index ... Read more

Product Description
Describes the life and skating career of the young woman who won a gold medal in figure skating at the 1998 Olympics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Tara Lipinski
This book was wonderful for my daughter who was doing a report for school.She really enjoyed the book and it came within days of ordering it.

Great skater, average biography
Tara Lipinski is a wonderful skater, but this biography does not begin to do her justice.It is filled with errors that could have been easily corrected by either having an editor who knows something about skating or watching a videotape of the performances in question.Even the photos are nothing special.For a better book about Tara's career, try her autobiography, Triumph on Ice.Skip this one.

Feels Like You're There
On the Ice with Tara Lipinski is a great book.The author is Matt Christopher.He is a great writer.When I read this book I felt like I was there watching Tara skate on the ice.It was a great book and still is.So, whoever is looking for a sports book, this is the one for you to read!

A great book!
When tara was two she saw her first olympics on tv but at the age of four she being to take tiny tot roller skating lessons. Tara was very good also at roller hockey . When tara was six she being ice skating and tara loved it. Tara also stayed with roller skating but soon had to quit and her family moved to texes where they gave her a pony named Moonray . Tara loved her pony and rode him but he cost to much and her parents soon gave him up. When Tara was eleven she started going to competitons and won a lot she beated stars like Michelle Kwan. And in 1998 in winter Tara, fifteen, won the gold medal at the Olympics . Taras brilliant smile was always lighting up the ice rink.

Tara Fans
To all Tara Fans: This is a great book. It has much information that may have remained unknown, a timeline is included as are pictures. A great biography:) ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the young Ukrainian figure skater who won a gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Oksana Baiul............Heart & Soul of an Artist on Ice!
This book not only captures the essence of Oksana as a person, but more importantly as a skater.........the title says it all "Rhapsody On Ice."Her story is brought to life in exquisite detail withbreathtaking photos and quotes from Oksana herself, which give the reader aglimpse into her soul.After reading this brief but concise book, it'seasy to see why Oksana is referred to as 'The Swan'.A must have for thefan of the unique sport of figure skating, but especially for her fans! ... Read more

Product Description
As a young girl, Nancy Kerrigan had a dream: to  become a world-class figure skater. With the  support of her father and her mother, who is legally  blind, she skated into the spotlight by winning a  bronze medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics and a gold  medal at the 1993 National  championships.



Then disaster struck.



A  frightening attack before the 1994 National  championships injured her knee and threatened her Olympic  hopes. But with courage and determination, Nancy  battled back to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics.  Win or lose, Nancy Kerrigan has the heart of a  champion. This is her inspiring story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

very insparational
I enjoyed this book very much. It was a wonderfull book that told about Nancys life right up to when she was struck with the bat.I recomend it to anyone who is interested in nancy's life. ... Read more

Product Description
Meet 12-year-old Emily Hughes. Emily comes from a family of skaters and has been skating since she was three years old. Like her older sister Sarah, Emily has the courage, heart, and determination to follow her dream wherever it takes her. Told in Emily's own words and illustrated with breathtaking photographs by Jane Feldman, I Am a Skater takes young readers behind the scenes and right on the ice with Emily. There, they'll get a whirlwind tour of the skating world--from the hours of practicing to the excitementof Emily's first international competition to the joy of performing at New York City's Madison Square Garden. They'll even get to go backstage with Emily's favorite skating stars! I Am a Skater invites readers to lace up their skates and share Emily's thrills--and sometimes her spills--as she steps into the dizzying and dazzling world of ice skating! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Wonderful book for a little skater
I bought this for my daughter when she was three thinking it looked like a kids book. Its not really. But it is written in a way that a very young child could enjoy it.

It has become my daughters absolute favorite book that she has to have read to her every single night! And she has also grown to love and admire Emily Hughes from this book. She gets so excited when she sees her skate now or just sees her on tv doing an interview. Great book lots of pics!

THIS BOOK WAS A GOOD BOOK FOR ME TO READ/EMILY HUGHES (THE Y
THIS BOOK WAS A GOOD BOOK FOR ME TO READ/EMILY HUGHES (THE YOUNGER SISTER OF SARAH HUGHES, 2002 WINTER OLYMPICS IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH USA, LADIES SINGLES FIGURE SKATING GOLD MEDALIST), TO START HER CAREER WITH

I know I read last year, but its really good. You learn a lot from Emily, her stand point. This for kids, but parents you read this before you let your kids read it. Thank you.

Also recommended: Her sister Sarah Hughes, I Skate, by Margot Falkner (I forgot if thats her name, its out of print now), A Young Skater, by Jill Kientez (I think thats the title, I think spelt the author last name right, its also of print now)

A Sweet and Lovely Risng Star!
I have met Emily Hughes a few times.She is a lovely young lady who is one of America's brightest rising figure skating stars! This is a beautiful book chock full of great pictures.It is a must have for any little girl who has a dream...they can come true! ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of a professional ice skater who at age twenty signed a three-year contract with the Ice Follies for almost a million and a half dollars. ... Read more

Product Description
A brief biography of two young skaters emphasizing their training and participation in competitions. Also discusses the special difficulties of successful pair skating. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the young ice skater who won the gold medal in women's figure skating in the 1992 Olympics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Inspiring and beautifully written
This is a very inspiring and beautifully written book. It discusses all of the obstacles that Nancy Kerrigan overcame before she gave the performances of her life at the 1994 Winter Olympics. This book and Nancy Kerrigan helped me to overcome obstacles and achieve my goals. It taught me many important lessons about life. I know it may sound weird that I learned this from a sport such as figure skating, but there are many parallels between figure skating and life. In sports as well as in life, hard work and overcoming obstacles is more important than winning gold medals. As a result of winning a silver medal, Nancy taught me two important things among others: overcoming hardships is more important, significant, and much bigger than winning gold medals. By giving her the silver medal, the judges made her star shine much brighter than a gold medal. In fact, she would have made this a realization whether she had won a medal or not. What is more important is trying your best. And the second lesson is that life is sometimes unfair. She won that night in Lillehammer. To me, she is the Olympic champion(in spirit and in reality) no matter what the judges said. And she deserved the gold medal. She was robbed and so was the United States. But what really matters is what I have said above. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to have their life changed for the better. Not many books can do that.

very good true story
Very moving and inspiring. I couldn't put it down. It inspired me to dream and work really hard to reach it.Nancy has amazing parents that support her in everything she did. I really respect them. The way Nancy faced everyproblem is amazing. You have to read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
From finding a pair of rusty roller skates in a garage, Jayson Sutcliffe went on to become three times world champion in his sport, amassing twelve world top 3 rankings, overcoming trial and hardship, bias and abuse and the untimely death of his beloved brother.

After twenty years of suffering, Sutcliffe has chosen to tell of the childhood abuse that ultimately changed his life forever.In an effort to bring closure to what he describes as – ‘memories from hell’, the pain and suffering he endured throughout will shock all his readers in a revealing chapter of unbelievable events.In a world outside of the suffering, Jayson was the first artistic roller skater from Australia to win an individual medal at a Word Championship and went on to make history by becoming the first skater ever to win a world title on both roller and In line skates for figure skating. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A Champion in Life
Roller skating fans and competitors will enjoy and relate with much of Jason's financial and physical struggles as well as well as sacrifice of what most would call a normal life. However, maybe it wasn't so much of a sacrifice for him when he has such an addiction; his all consuming love of the sport to willingly let go of other desires for the time being.For readers who have no idea about roller sports, here is a story of someone who found his passion early in life, grabbed onto it with both hands and was lucky enough to have parents willing to scrape enough money together to let him try...and succeed.

But giving up a "normal life" does not protect Jayson from the hard knocks that taught and molded him into what he is; a person with depth and understanding of things many may never get to learn: here's what it takes to be a champion in a sport and in life.

Understanding achieved..............
An enlightening read - Jayson was an enigma to me, who, from a distance, has influenced my roller-skating daughter for quite some years in much the same way as Jayson talks of the respect, admiration, affection, and impact that many others have had in his life.

Jayson probably has little idea that he has been watched and emulated from afar for so long......

I wanted to know more..... to ensure Jayson is a worthy role model. Jayson writes in a down to earth, yet colourful style, clearly defining events, also his thoughts and opinions. The love within Jayson's immediate family and the extended family he has grown in the skating fraternity is clear.

I found myself touched and warmed by Jayson's honesty. There was much gratification in reading of someone else's experiences with sport officials and finding they were the same as mine (reitererated in 2006 movie "Stick It"). My hope is that Jayson's story will touch enough people to stir change that brings roller sports into the 21st century.

Good on you Jayson! Please carry on sharing your passion for people, skating, drama, design, flamboyance with all you can.

Skating Star Shares All!
Sutcliffe's story explores competitive roller skating at the highest levels. Well written and fun to read! Pick this up if you're a fan of roller sports or just want read about this renegade guy from the land of Oz.

Skating Legend!Fantastic read!
I promise you once you pick this book up you will not put it down!It tells a story of a wonderful man who has a passion for skating..a sport he loves and through courage and determination and what life has in his path he skates to the top!
Truly inspiring book for anyone who has a dream!

One of the most honest books you'll ever read.
Jayson gives an open, honest and heartwarming look into the up and downs that have been his personal and skating life. I found it inspiring. He gets back up every time he's knocked down and inspires courage to do the same. If you ever have been at a crossroads in life you will relate to his story. ... Read more