Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: Olympics

  • As Fast As I Can

    As Fast As I Can

    As Fast As I Can is much more than entertaining look at facing up to real life challenges, viewed through the eyes of ten year old Vivian and her family, as they struggle to cope with a devastating illness and the fall out that will mean Vivian will not be able to live her dream of representing Australia at the Olympic Games when she is older.

    Vivian was not one to give up lightly as she had a dream, a big, huge dream to follow, she just was not sure how she was going to make it happen, as in her family they had the belief that if you worked hard enough, you could achieve whatever you wanted!

    Her friend Olivia is pretty good at sport; they trained together using Olivia’s backyard, measured out a sprint track, but becoming a sprinter was not to be, neither was long jumping a success. Gymnastics was great, but after trying and trying Vivian realised that was not the pathway to the Olympics. Eventually cross country running for the school sports captured Vivian’s imagination and she began training like mad to be able to be the best possible on the day, maybe even to win.

    She had in the most unexpected way, discovered a sport she was really good at; one that could take her to the Olympics in 2016 if she trained hard enough and believed in herself.

    This absolutely gripping story from Penny Tangey looks at what happens when dreams come tumbling down, that life often comes with pathways already built in and that learning to dream big is wonderful, but sometimes those dreams need to change directions, even if you are only ten years old.

    From the first page Vivian and her determination to never give up, sets the scene for a heartfelt story that will captivate, as very carefully woven within is strong message to children everywhere to believe in yourself, to follow your dreams but when change comes, as it often will, to change course but keep on dreaming and believing.

  • The Women’s Atlas

    The Women’s Atlas

    The Women’s Atlas is a unique and select Atlas that has been superbly researched and presented. It shows a global view of women’s lives around the world and gives statistics to support the understanding of the main issues that face women. The research is current and is interesting as well as challenging. There are many aspects of injustice which are not being dealt with, and the facts show where and how this is happening.

    Some of the headings for the teasing out of issues are Health, Education, Power, Work and Body Politics. Under the heading of Household Size, we see a map of the world with colours denoting households with less than 3 people, and 6 people and over. Australia has fewer than 3 people in a house as an average. We also learn that in Sweden, 52% of all households have only one person. Women comprise the majority of single person households.

    There are pages of data showing things such as “Dress Offensive.” The actual percentage of people who agree that women should choose their own clothing is varied. In Tunisia, 56% of people say yes, while in Egypt the number is just 14%. Honour killings and Justified beatings were also voted on, and in Ethiopia, 68% of people agreed with the practice.

     An interesting page shows the location of the greatest number of births in the world. The highest rates are in Nigeria, Somalia and Mali. The lowest birth rates are in Hong Kong, Portugal and Singapore. Moving to sport, there is a section on Women in the Olympics. In 1900, there were just 2% of women involved, compared with 45% in 2016.  Another page discusses cosmetics. It shows that personal care products often contain dangerous substances such as parabens and neurotoxins. The skin whitening products sold to women contain Mercury and steroids, and in the USA, many cosmetics manufactured are unregulated.

    Looking at the statistics for women in the work force is surprising. Australia, China and Canada, along with Denmark, Norway and Sweden have 70% or more women who work. India and Mexico, along with countries in North Africa, have fewer than 30% of women working for pay.

    The amount of data and statistics gathered for this Atlas is enormous. Already it is out of date, as the numbers were obtained in 2016. However, no other book has so comprehensively shown the information about women as raw data and this makes it a valuable resource. The presentation of maps demonstrating numbers by colour and the following pages of explanation, is well done. This will be the basis for many a policy discussion and should be available for all to see.

     

  • Patty Takes Charge: Game Day! 3

    Patty Takes Charge: Game Day! 3

    Patty Mills and Jared Thomas have created the third book in the poplar series Game Day aimed directly at sports loving children, particularly those who love basketball.

    Patty has finally been selected to play for Canberra and he is so excited. Coach Clarke feels all his hard work has paid off and now he has a chance to travel with the other boys, who have been elected from other Canberra teams, to compete in a major competition in Sydney. He is so excited he begins to feel he may have even a future in basketball.

    There is only one small problem and that is, when he is supposed to be in Sydney he is also supposed to be up in the Torres Straight at Athe’s birthday party and a family gathering. What to do?

    His mother says that it is OK and they will work around it, when he badly sprains his ankle at training and fears that he may not get to Sydney after all the effort to get everything sorted out.

    Finally, he is on the bus with the other team members, and they are heading to Sydney for the biggest event of their lives so far. Arriving at the stadium they are all overawed at the size of the venue and the huge amount of people all yelling for their teams.

    As the week goes on Paddy’s ankle holds up; the team, after being totally defeated in their first game, begins to look like a top performing team and they make it into the finals.

    Patty Mills is an Australian Olympian and NBA star. The Game Day series is the story of his growing up in Canberra as a sports mad kid and beginning to realise that with hard work and persistence, maybe he can become a champion at Basketball.

    With the series he hopes that it ‘will inspire all kids to reach for the stars, by embracing the skills and lessons we receive through culture and sport’.

    Patty Takes Charge is a lively read which teaches a little about the Torres Strait Islands culture, the dedication and commitment that goes into becoming a sports player and the rewards that can be found when you try hard.