Shannon Miller: My Child, My Hero (Hardcover)

~ Claudia Ann Miller (Author), Gayle White (Author), Shannon Miller (Foreword) "I GAZED IN NEAR-disbelief as my daughter Shannon sat stunned on a blue mat on the floor of the cavernous Georgia Dome with more than..." (more)
Key Phrases: four event finals, difficult vault, tumbling pass, American Cup, Oklahoma City, Shannon Miller (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Shannon Miller, multi-medal-winning gymnast at both the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympics, is the subject of this memoir written by her mother. While such a book could have become overbearing, Miller is instead gracious toward rivals, teammates, and the many who helped Shannon and temperate when discussing spats with coaches. In Kerri Strug's autobiography Landing on My Feet (LJ 11/1/97), readers came to understand a gymnast's terrific drive and sacrifices. In this book, we see how these sacrifices can affect an athlete's parents and siblings. Also interesting are the Millers' religious beliefs?as Christian Scientists, mother and daughter used prayer and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy to make decisions, even medical ones. Despite Shannon's fame and achievements, there is not a trace of superiority complex here. A solid addition to gymnastics collections in public libraries.?Kathryn Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, BC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A proud and devoted mother's overdone portrait of her celebrated gymnast daughter's trials and triumphs. Claudia Miller relates her daughter's progress from jungle-gym-climbing toddler to leader of the first US women's gymnastic team to bring home the Olympic gold. For those who don't know a double twisting Yurchenko from a piked full twisting double back, the particulars of Shannon Miller's gymnastic feats in innumerable competitions quickly become tedious. Of more interest to parents of an exceptional child is the story of the Miller family's efforts to keep one daughter's striking success from having negative effects on her older sister and younger brother. With Shannon's success came tension between her parents and her controlling and demanding coach (by this time, Claudia Miller had trained to become a gymnastics judge, and some second-guessing of the coach was probably inevitable) and difficult decisions concerning agents and money. Recurrent injuries were another problem, especially since the author is a Christian Scientist and her husband a Baptist; for Shannon, Christian Science practitioners and prayer were combined with consultations with physicians, medical treatments, surgery, and physical therapy as needed. Rather surprisingly, Miller barely mentions the controversial weight issue in her discussions of her daughter's health, despite the fact that at age 15 Shannon weighed only 76 pounds. Even allowing for motherly prejudice, the portrait of the young gymnast that emerges is one any parent would be proud of: an outstanding athlete who is also a top student, and someone who makes exceptional demands on herself but is at the same time thoughtful and considerate of others. As an Olympic gymnast, Shannon Miller had the eyes of the world on her, but this overly technical treatment wont put her on the bestseller podium where fellow gymnast Dominique Moceanu once stood. (8 color, 42 b&w illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press; First Edition edition (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806131101
• ISBN-13: 978-0806131108
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #477,279 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A not-too-informative bio, January 28, 2002

By	"camlyndc" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Although I'm a huge gymnastics fan, this book got boring rather quickly. Most interesting to me was the level of dedication which Shannon exhibited at such an early age---Claudia Miller sounds almost breathless in her recitation of the awards Shannon racked up. Unfortunately, this is little more than a blow-by-blow account of Shannon's competitions---it's far more interesting to watch them on TV than read about them! The author fails to show us anything deeper than Shannon's gymnastics and doesn't follow through with what could be interesting information (for example, the relationship between Miller and her coach as well as how Shannon's siblings dealt with her fame).

Most shocking to me was the unbelievably juvenile and controlling attitude of Steve Nunno (her coach)---Claudia Miller simply dismisses his irrational actions, often resorting to "we eventually smoothed it over".

While a dedicated Miller fan might love this book, the rest of you might just want to skip it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book..., December 21, 2000

By	Christopher J. Martin (Lynchburg, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Overall, I think this book is a better book than the one authored by Shannon herself. Yes, it is a bit overdone in spots, but any mother who loves her child is going to overdo things a bit. I also think it's easy to discount the overdramatized and over done things while still enjoying a good read. Shannon's relationships and not so perfect side of life as a world class gymnast are also better discribed here than in Shannon's book, the Miller world doesn't always seem so eerily perfect in this book. I think it's probably as well done and as "objective" of a portrait as any mother could do for her daughter. As for the weight issues and other things, nobody in gymnastics truly ever talks about those things, and most don't find a problem with them. I didn't expect Shannon's mother too either, and wasn't suprised when she didn't discuss the subject.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay, May 9, 2003

A Kid's Review

This book wasn't the greatest biography written about Shannon Miller. Of course, since it was written by Shannon's mother, the book does have a lot of little minor details and stories, and some of them were very interesting. (Like the one about Shannon dressing up as a grocery bag complete with the groceries one Halloween!) However, when it came to Shannon's competitions, the book had so many details about every little thing going on that it kind of became overwhelming, and sometimes I would put the book down, forget about it, and return to it days later. Needless to say, this book was a little bit boring. In fact, it's almost 300 pages long. Seems like a lot of pages for chronicling a nineteen-year-old's life! All and all, if you're looking for a good biography about Shannon, I would recommend reading "Winning Every Day" by Shannon Miller, or "Shannon Miller: America's Most Decorated Gymnast" by Krista Quiner.