The Mind-Blowing World of Extraordinary Competitions: Meet the Incredible People Who Will Compete at ANYTHING

by Anna Goldfield, Hannah Riordan (Illustrator)

From cheese rolling races to baby crying competitions, get ready for an adventure through the most amazing contests the world has ever seen.

Throughout history humans have been challenging themselves against each other. Who could be the fastest? The strongest? The cleverest? While this was going on some other people decided to create epic contests that were…well, a little bit more unusual.

Welcome to The Mind-Blowing World of Extraordinary Competitions , introduced by podcaster and expert fact-finder Anna Goldfield! Inside this nonfiction book prepare to get your mind blown

• The people that take ironing boards up mountains
• A spectacular pumpkin rowing race
• Beauty pageants…for camels!

Through the stories of these awesome competitions, brought to life by illustrator Hannah Riordan, readers will learn about the societies that created them, and the amazing traditions that inspired them.

Filled with fun facts, it’s a perfect book for fans of Guinness World Records!

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle Grade, Audiobook

80 pages, Hardcover

Published April 4, 2023

About the author

Anna Goldfield is a podcaster, science writer, illustrator, archaeologist, and creator of all sorts of content to introduce people to the study of the world around us and its past. Anna works on the kids’ science podcast Brains On! and presents the popular archaeology podcast The Dirt.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Many competitions throughout the world, past and (mostly) present are represented. Some of them I’d enjoy watching-a few I’d definitely skip-like cockroach racing, no thank you!

[Book friends are my best friends · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hit for my middle grade child, who delights in knowing random facts. We both got a kick out of the various competitions held around the world, and it brought up many quick conversations and debates. We listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator was just right (albeit at 1.25 speed) for the subject matter.

Thank you to netgalley for the audiobook; all opinions are my own (and my child's!)

[TheRetiredSchoolLibrarian |Mrs. Ferraris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief summary: Young readers will learn about the exciting stories of some of the most unusual competitions of humankind from ancient times to now.

Comments: I learned about competitions I never knew existed before reading this fascinating book. Ripley's Believe it Or Not and Guinness World Record fans will love this children's book.

Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really was a book of mind-blowing world of extraordinary completions. Some of note. Chessboxing. Extreme Ironing. Do-Nothing Contest. Toe Wrestling. Pest Bog Snorkeling. (That’s a big nope.) Peat bog mummies. I can’t with this book. Crying Baby Festival. Worm Charming.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A variety of interesting, bizarre, and pointless competitions from around the world.

[Emmanuella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will definitely use this for my information literacy unit!

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Presents 36 kinds of competitions, with a brief overview and additional details on each kind of competition. Back matter includes a glossary and an index. Wish there were sources/references included.

[Library To-Go]

06/2024 Booktalks

[Kitchen Sink Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you love competitions, I am quite sure the answer to that is yes and we enjoy them all the time. At school there are sports, music, art, writing competitions, I am sure that list goes on. I bet you have competitions with your friends, families too, why not, a lot of the time they are just for fun after all. Some people however take part in big competitions, national and international ones, we probably see some of the more famous ones on our TVs but what about the extraordinary competitions that have taken place throughout history and still do? You are about to discover some!

Hannah Goldfield provides an introduction to her book explaining that humans and animals love competitions and that they are far from being a new thing, in fact they have been around since the earliest days and she is about to share with us 36 of them all of which have been creatively illustrated by Hannah Riordan. Be prepared for there is simply everything you might imagine here from Camel Beauty Pageants which are judged on the lips, eyelashes, ears and humps of the camel, some of which are decorated for the occasion. Toe wrestling anyone? This has been a. Sport since 1974! There is a competition for Air Guitar Champs, Pumpkins and even Worm Charming. These may all sound weird and wonderful but what they show us is that people love to compete and do it creatively - maybe you will even try some or make up one of your own?

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This was an interesting fact book for younger readers. I listened to it as an audiobook, and the format does not suit it as well as print.