Mountain Biking

VOYA

The Extreme Sports series books have similar formats offering the same page layout and length and providing a basic overview and history of a popular extreme sport. Mountain biking, like snowboarding, has become a worldwide craze as well as an Olympic sport. Mountain Biking examines the different styles of the sport from cross-country to dirt jumping, and it also explains the various types of bikes that go with each style of biking. An explanation of the mountain bike's maintenance includes a labeled diagram of bike parts. This book emphasizes safety and stresses the importance of riding gear: "Only a fool thinks it's cool not to wear a helmet and gloves." As in Snowboarding, this title also explains several beginner and intermediate tricks; however, Mountain Biking goes beyond the intermediate techniques and shows some more advanced tricks such as no-hands jumping and wall rides. The section that highlights top mountain bike riders also includes female riders. The other titles in the series are Snowboarding, BMX, In-Line Skating, Rock Climbing, and Skateboarding. Although the books are brief, they are jam packed with information covering history, equipment, maintenance, tricks and techniques, and stars and professionals, and they discuss places to participate in each sport. They have a magazine quality to them with glossy paper, lots of pictures, diagrams, and colors, certain to draw reluctant readers. This series serves as a great resource for school assignments or an introduction to extreme sports. It is a recommended purchase for public and school libraries serving middle school students. (Extreme Sports).. VOYA Codes 3Q 3P M (Readable withoutserious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2003, Lerner, 32p.; Glossary. Index. Illus. Photos. Biblio., PLB and Trade pb.. Ages 11 to 14.
—Sarah Cofer

School Library Journal

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.