A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet (Sports) [Hardcover]

Kurt Browning (Author), Melanie Rose (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Sports

Four-time world champion and professional figure skater Kurt Browning replaces his boots and blades with pen and paper in "A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet." From holding an edge to laces and hooks, Kurt glides and dances through the alphabet explaining the history, techniques and memorable moments of the sport. Melanie Rose captures the excitement visually with her colorful, playful illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4–The popular and successful Canadian figure skater gives readers a great deal of information about skating technique and equipment. As an alphabet book, it works reasonably well with the exception of a few weak word choices (e.g., N is for Needs more practice...And Never give up…. and Y is for You. There's a typo for the letter Q: The rink becomes a blur,/your spinning now don't quit. The colorful, realistic oil paintings are the book's best feature. The reading level varies as this is almost two books in one. The rhyming text giving the alphabet is appropriate for K-3 level, while the majority of the text in the sidebars is about a grade three and up reading level in rather small type. Add this to your collection as an extra purchase for your skating fans, not as a first choice. Or you may prefer Naia Bray-Moffatt's Ice Skating School (DK, 2004) or Debbi Wilkes's The Figure Skating Book (Firefly, 2000).–Kate Kohlbeck, Randall School, Waukesha, WI
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About the Author

Known for his fluid movement and confidence on the ice, four-time world champion figure skater Kurt Browning spins, jumps, and glides his way through the alphabet with A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet. Kurt was the first figure skater to be named as Canada’s outstanding male athlete, was honored by Sports Illustrated as one of the 50 greatest sports figures from Canada, and is a member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. Completing the first quadruple jump in competition earned Kurt his way into the Guinness Book of Records. Kurt presently skates professionally with Stars on Ice and lives in Toronto with his wife and son.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press; 1 edition (December 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585362808
• ISBN-13: 978-1585362806
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 11.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #67 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Girl Scouts & Girl Guides

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Book, April 17, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet (Sports) (Hardcover)

I never knew Kurt Browning could write such a book! It is filled with details and some history of the sport. I really enjoyed this book, but I thought it could've had something written about how to do an axel or something like that but it is a very, very good book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Skating and the Alphabet - Kids Love it, December 3, 2009

By 

D. Jones "ComcastRocks" (West Chester, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet (Sports) (Hardcover)

Kids love this series of books. A is for Axel hits home as I have three skaters - two of which are working on learning their alphabets and words. The side bars have been an hit to my older skater who can read. I watched a lot of Kurt Browning competing back in the day - stand up guy. Nice transition to the written world. I recommend highly for a good fun read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, January 9, 2007

By 

Joan Hampton "Listener" (SEATTLE) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet (Sports) (Hardcover)

This is another of the aphabet series of books. Being a figure skating fan, and Kurt Browning is one of my favorite skaters, I was captivated by his book. This is written for the fairly young child, but the sidebars of information for the more adult gives good explanations of the different moves of figure skating. Very enjoyable to read!