Simone Biles: Making the Case for the Greatest of All Time

Gr 4-7–Gymnast Simone Biles has captured hearts with her gravity-defying acrobatics and dazzled viewers for years. This biography argues that she is the greatest gymnast of all time. Biles’s grandparents adopted her and her younger sister from their single mother, moving the girls to Texas and enrolling Biles in gymnastics as an outlet for her energy. The coaches saw something special in the young and untrained Biles: her fearlessness, natural mimicry skills, and “air sense” (her ability to know where she is in relation to the ground). Blackaby explores Biles’s rigorous mental preparation, the hours she spent practicing, and her steady rise to stardom. Readers will see the perseverance and grit it took for the gymnast to outpace her competitors and reach her goals. The clear, concise writing, supported by full-color photographs, stats that highlight her excellence, and facts called out in pink text blocks, will inspire readers to find their own passion and commit to it wholeheartedly.