Super Sports Stars Who Are Changing the Game: People Power Series

Biographies of sports stars are some of the high fliers in the school library – particularly of footballers, although other sports do get a look in. It’s lovely therefore to come across a biographical collection that pulls in a diverse mix of athletes from Ludwig Guttmann, who set up the Paralympics to more famous stars such as Muhammad Ali, and more recent stars such as Megan Rapinoe. Each athlete or sports inspirational figure is given a double page spread, full colour, with boxes off to include more info, some in the shape of medals or flags.It's interesting to include those behind the scenes as well as the star athletes, showing that sport reaches beyond what we see on the screen on in the stadium, and I like the way the book highlighted the qualities needed to reach those heights.My quibble would be that I wasn’t sure whether it was necessary to indicate a list of issues that the reader might care about. It’s not necessary to be quite so prescriptive, and I don’t think that everything children do should be tied to having to fight for a cause. This makes the book crafted in terms of what sport can lead to, what difference it can make in the wider world, rather than being an endgame in itself, and I’m not sure that this is always the message to be pushing. I think you can be a great role model just by excelling in your field and being a kind person, rather than having to lead a cause.So, it’s an interesting title, but perhaps too agenda based for my liking.*I received a free copy of this book, which I voluntarily reviewed

Bought for nephew who loved it.