Rock Climbing

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Reviewed with Matt Barr and Chris Moran's Snowboarding.Gr. 4-8. With original artwork, color photographs, and concise blocks of text, these titles in the Extreme Sports series incorporate interesting, rarely cited facts in their overviews. Few youth titles about snowboarding, for example, mention that the sport's origins date to the 1920s. The sometimes crowded spreads cover the basics of history, gear, and techniques for various levels of experience, including several useful diagrams. Rock Climbing compares various countries' grading systems and introduces, but doesn't explain, the concept of climbing ethics. Both books begin with a blanket safety warning, but Rock Climbing includes more practical safety tips for young readers. Snowboarding, in contrast, focuses on avalanche protection rather than beginner concerns, and it features snowboarding "superstars" without mentioning that at least one died while pushing the limits on the slopes. The language aims for its audience with phrases such as "awesome mountains," but it veers occasionally into the tritely simplistic. Still, each volume offers some unusual, helpful information that will nicely supplement other, sturdier introductions. Further reading lists and a glossary are appended to each volume. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Card catalog description
Provides an introduction to the sport of rock climbing, along with information on the sport's history, styles of climbing, equipment, techniques, popular sites for climbing, and some of the dangers.


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Gr 3-5-Each of these titles offers a brief introduction to the history, equipment, basic techniques, styles, and stars. The presentations are superficial; for example, chapters on the legends of each sport offer head shots and a blurb about the awards earned by a handful of professional athletes. Each book includes a spread of limited information on the techniques for advanced tricks and a warning recommending that readers wear safety equipment. (However, not all of the athletes shown heeded this advice.) Different font types and sizes and numerous color photos with unusual angles make some of the layouts appear chaotic. This series is comparable in scope to the "Rad Sports" series (Rosen Central) and the "X-treme Outdoors" series (Children's). While there is high demand for titles on extreme sports, this series is supplemental at best.-Michael Giller, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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