A Very Young Skater

by Jill Krementz

A 10-year-old relates her experiences as a skater.

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Figure Skating, Sports, Biography Memoir, Biography

110 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 1979

About the author

Jill Krementz is an American photographer and author. She has published 31 books, mostly of photography and children's books. She was married to Kurt Vonnegut for almost 30 years.

Reviews

[Emily Thevenin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Checked this out from my school's library countless times in elementary school. More books like this need to be written to inspire today's kids to have goals and to realize only through consistent practice will they ever achieve great things.

[katyjanereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Where is she now? She's apparently a big deal. My bad for not knowing. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kather...
2. It's crazy how much ballet is in so many other sports. Skating, swimming, gymnastics.
3. Again, I loved Jill's black and white photos. They always capture the essence of the young children.
4. I learned a lot about skating that I never knew.
5. This book make me watch YouTube videos such as "top 10 ice skaters of all time" and ones with John Curry in them.
6. It also made me want to ice skate. I never have and it's been on my bucket list for years.
7. Katherine Healy was even in a movie that I now just HAVE to see called Six Weeks.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former child figure skater I loved this book even though her life was charmed and mine was not. Katherine is a kind of eerily ambitious 10 year old. She lives in Brooklyn with her bohemian lawyer parents (it's the '70s). She is a wunderkind -not only a talented and successful figure skater but also a dancer -she stars in the ABT production of The Nutcracker at the same time her skating career is being documented for this book. She later went on to become a very accomplished ballerina. As usual, Jill Krementz' photographs are beautiful.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun cute book about an aspiring young ice skater. It is funny to see the different techniques that were used way back in the day!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book as a kid; fun and nostalgic to reread it years later.

[Surreysmum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juvenile. For a "kids inspirational" book, this one ended up having a rather celebrated subject in ballerina / skater Katherine Healy, then 10 years old, a protégée of John Curry (who is well illustrated in rink and performance shots), a fan of Gelsey Kirkland (yes, there's a photo of them together), and wheelbarrow partner of a six-year-old Kyoko Ina. There is a whole section of performance photos from Superskates of that year, featuring many well-known professionals. The text is fairly basic, but one can actually hear Healy's childish but articulate voice commenting on the strange world around her.

[RCW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one I read multiple times as a child. Lots of fun.