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Q: “Does the library have any books about the Summer Olympics?

Written on: July 29th, 2012 by: cathay in Q & A's

Q: “My children and I are enjoying the Summer Olympics that are in London.  Does the library have any books about its history and the sports?”

The 2012 Summer Olympics is exciting and brings the world even closer with these international competitions.  It’s great that you and your family are enjoying the events broadcasted live from London, and yes, there are some great resources and books to meet the variety of interests surrounding the Games.

Delaware Libraries have an online resource for finding recommended reads for adults, teens, and children, through Novelist.  This is found through our Delaware Libraries’ site, on the eMagazines and Newspapers, specifically on “Reading Recommendations”.  You’ll find excellent summaries about the books, and the books and items that come up are conveniently linked to the Delaware Library Catalog, too!

When searching, I simply typed in “summer olympics”, “olympics”, and “summer olympic games” with “history” as an additional keyword.  Here are some ideas, organized by reading level.  To request a full view and place holds on these items, you’ll be prompted to log into your library account using your 14 digit library card number (no spaces) and PIN.  Here are some I picked out from the extensive list:

Grade Pre-K-2:

• How to train with a T. Rex and win 8 gold medals (Jan 2009) by Ward Jenkins

Grade 2-7:

• Robert Crowther’s pop-up Olympics: amazing facts and record breakers (Apr 1996) by Robert Crowther
• Gymnastics (Jan 2012) Swimming (2012), and Volleyball (Jan 2012)  by Nate LeBoutillier (there are others in this series too!)
• The Olympics: scandals (Aug 2011)by Moira Butterfield
• Michael Phelps (Apr 2008) by Kerrily Sapet

Grade level 4-8:

• Summer Olympics: the definitive guide to the world’s greatest sports celebration (Jun 2004) by Clive Gifford
• The Summer Olympics (March 2000) by Bob Knotts (one in the True Books series)
• Olympism: a basic guide to the history, ideals, and sports of the Olympic movement (Jan 2001)
• Simon says gold: Simon Whitfield’s pursuit of athletic excellence (Oct 2009) by Simon Whitfield
• Inside the Olympics (Jul 2011) by Nick Hunter
• Gold medal summer (Jun 2012) by Donna Freitas (Fiction)
• Shaun White (Oct 2008) by Karen Schweitzer

Adults:

• Igniting the flame: America’s first Olympic team (Jun 2012) by Jim Reisler
• The ancient Olympics (Aug 2004) by Nigel Jonathan Spivey
• Triumph: the untold story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics (Feb 2007) by Jeremy Schaap
• Made in America: his own story (May 1988) by Peter Ueberroth

Biographies:

• As good as gold: 1 woman, 9 sports, 10 countries, and a 2-year quest to make the summer Olympics (May 2010) by Kathryn Bertine
• Muhammad Ali: ‘I am the greatest’ ) (Feb 2006) by Carin T. Ford  (also appropriate for teens
• The John Carlos story: the sports moment that changed the world (Sep 2011) by Dave Zirin

The official Summer Olympics 2012 website is found at:  http://www.olympic.org/london-2012-summer-olympics (on the official Olympics site).

For a look at the history of the Olympics, there are many options for children and adults from print sources to online.  Here is a comprehensive article from Thomas D. Steman, faculty at St. Cloud State University:

Olympic History on the World Wide Web

(Although this original article was written in 2009, the information is relevant and updated for 2012, except one link.  That is to the information regarding Jesse Owens (second source from the last in the article).  The URL should be:

http://library.osu.edu/projects/jesse-owens/).

One of our three National Libraries, the Library of Congress, offers interesting information and historic photos about the Olympics.

If you enjoy Tweeting, keep up to date with the frequent posts about the Summer Olympics on Twitter.

Catch the excitement and run, pole-vault, swim, dash, or leap to your nearest library for these and other great Summer Olympic-related reads!

And remember that, if you ever need any help finding information, please feel free to ask a Delaware librarian, anytime in person at your local library, or online through our Ask a Librarian Delaware virtual reference service at:

http://lib.de.us/askalibrarian