Running

School Library Journal

Gr 2-3-- An entry-level explanation of running equipment, skills, and competition. The text features consistently simple sentence structure and vocabulary, and occasionally oversimplified information. In discussing nutrition, the protein food group is referred to as ``meat.'' Full-color photographs of Olympic athletes interspersed with shots of male and female runners of all ages are effective in providing visual explanations of hard-to-describe concepts such as a steeplechase, a staggered start, and being boxed in. References to ``across country'' running and unfamiliar athletes can be attributed to the book's British origin; errors such as Nelli Cooman's World Indoor 60m championship date as being 1968 cannot. Fun, fitness, and competition are given equal representation; safety and preparation are stressed. A basic, but flawed, introduction to the sport. --Liza Bliss, formerly at Leominster Public Library, MA