Tara Lipinski (Fig Skate Leg)(Oop) (Female Figure Skating Legends) [Library Binding]

Veda Boyd Jones (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: Female Figure Skating Legends

Presents the success story of figure skater Tara Lipinski, who at fourteen-years-old became the youngest National Champion and World Champion in the history of women's figure skating.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Library Binding: 64 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea House Publications (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791048764
• ISBN-13: 978-0791048764
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,656,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Veda Boyd Jones is the author of 42 books with traditional publishers, some for adult markets, most for children. Publishers include Scholastic, Barbour, McGraw-Hill, Lerner, Lucent, Chelsea House, Wendy Pye, Avalon, and Seedling. In addition,she's had over 500 short stories or articles published in magazines (Woman's World, The Writer, Harris' Farmer's Almanac, Highlights, Cricket, Humpty Dumpty and many others). Now she's ventured into the e-world with Joe's Ghost on Kindle.

She says, "I am never bored when waiting in a doctor's or dentist's office, since I just turn on my imagination and invent characters to go along with the people sitting in chairs around me. But that's when I'm thinking of fiction.
I write a good deal of nonfiction for children. This is an entirely different way of writing. Ninety percent of my time is spent researching and documenting facts. Kids believe what they see in print, and my job is to make sure it is accurate."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of Course Tara is a Legend!, November 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tara Lipinski (Fig Skate Leg)(Oop) (Female Figure Skating Legends) (Library Binding)

Of course,Tara Lipinski is a legend! She broke Sonya Henies record, and was the first women to do a triple-ltriple loop combo.And the fact that she's been around for such a short time is a testament to her boundless talent. And if you think Olympic gold medalists,Peggy Fleming, and Dorthy Hamil are legends,(which no sane person will deny) then wheather you like her on not, Tara Lipinski name is right besides them, AS A LEGEND.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really great book, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tara Lipinski (Fig Skate Leg)(Oop) (Female Figure Skating Legends) (Library Binding)

This book was really good. It tells about a "skating legand" and I am sorry but she is not bragging. If you like Tara Lipinski and love skating, read this book

4.0 out of 5 stars This biography ends before Tara's Olympics, February 2, 2010

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tara Lipinski (Paperback)

There are many biographies (and an autobiography) of American figure skater, Tara Lipinski on the market, and this book by Veda Boyd Jones ends before the 1998 XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, where Tara won the gold medal in Ladies Figure Skating. You might prefer Totally Tara: An Olympic Journey by Mark Zeigler, which is primarily a children's picture book but does include her Olympic experience. Christine Brennan's 432-page Edge of Glory: The Inside Story of the Quest for Figure Skating's Olympic Gold Medals contains behind-the-scenes coverage of the 1997 - 1998 figure skating seasons, including Tara Lipinski's World Championship and Olympic Gold Medal, but it is not a biography of one particular skater.

This book by Veda Boyd Jones is just the right size to present a focused portrait Tara through the beginning and middle of her rise to figure skating glory. The controversy involving her brief amateur career, and the snide commentary on her personality are left for other authors to document (mainly, Christine Brennan).

At age 14, Tara Lipinski became the youngest U.S. National Champion & the youngest World Champion in women's figure skating history. No one is likely to surpass this record, because the minimum age limit to compete at the World Championship is now set at 15. I remember her as a lithe, brilliant presence on the ice, and was quite saddened when she turned professional.

This 64-page biography is a part of Chelsea House Publishers' "Female Sports Stars" series and is illustrated with black-and-white photographs from Tara Lipinski's short but exceptional career, up through her 1997 59-city `Tour of World Figure Skating Champions,' sponsored by Campbell's Soups (earning what the author calls "a staggering amount of money.") Her Olympic glory was still to come.

This book will discourage all but the most persistent junior figure skaters from pursuing an Olympic dream. Tara Lipinski was a fierce competitor and practiced at least two hours a day on the ice. She had to drop out of school in 5th grade, and continue her education with tutors. She and her mother had to move away from their home in Texas to take advantage of the superior ice rinks and coaches on the East Coast. The author says of Tara's dream: "It was work. Practice, practice, practice. The more difficult a technical element, the more determined Tara became. If she couldn't master a movement, she concentrated harder."

This youngster was gifted with the perfect physique to become a world-class figure skater, but Tara's commitment and persistence to this difficult, beautiful sport is what this reader will remember the longest from this biography.