What Are the Paralympic Games?

What was...?

by Gail Herman

It's time to cheer for the inspiring athletes of the Paralympic Games!

As the Opening Ceremony for the 1948 Summer Olympic Games commenced in London, a similar sporting competition was taking place a few miles away. But the men at Stoke Mandeville weren't your typical athletes. They were paralyzed World War II veterans. The games at Stoke Mandeville were so successful that they would eventually lead evolve into the Paralympics. Participants from all around the world vie for the gold medal in a variety of sports, including archery, basketball, swimming, speed skating, and ice hockey. Author Gail Herman highlights their achievements, describes how these athletes train--both mentally and physically--for the games, and gives the reader a better understanding of what makes the Paralympic Games one of the world's most viewed sporting events.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports

112 pages, Paperback

Published March 17, 2020

About the author

Gail Herman, formerly a children's book editor in New York City, has written picture books, easy-to-reads, and chapter books, including many titles in the Who Was/What Was series. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her family.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Heartfelt Story about the Paralympics and how they Came to Be.

[Joanne Eglon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another quick kindle read. Really interesting. Enjoy this series of What Are books.. Great topics. Nice illustrations to break pages up. Would recommend 💕

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books in the “What Was” series. I learned so much about the history of the Paralympic Games. They started with the Stoke Mandeville Games after WWII. The first Games was a small group of competitors in wheelchair archery between two hospitals in England. The book then documents the growth over the years to many sports, inviting more and more people with various disabilities, and then connecting with the cities and venues of the Olympic Games. The art was detailed and helped show a lot of athletes with various disabilities. It seems respectfully done.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learmed so much about the Paralympics. This book was a great read.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the Paralympic Games and Special Olympics. I would highly recommend this book too.
I have multiple disabilities!

[Anna Cavallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the Paralympic Games and Special Olympics. I would highly recommend this book too.
I have multiple disabilities!

What Are the Paralympic Games?

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm trusting the information in here to be accurate because there's an intro by para-olympian Tatyana McFadden. V. well written.
Something i'd like to know is if the 72 Munich Para-Olympics were affected by the terrorist attack.

[Cam]

I always wondered....people are just amazing!

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book 📕 is very focused on certain parts of the Games. It’s also making some teams the “better team”, that they’re rooting for 👎, which is why I gave it 4 stars❤️❤️❤️❤️.

[Star Sabins · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was every well written and had nice information in it

[Kevin Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was poorly written, like a bunch of Wikipedia articles pasted together.
Most of the book was about individual athletes, not the Paralympics as a whole, which is what I was interested in.

[Karthika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring