If you want to polish up on Olympic lore, read stories of great Olympians or learn the story behind the up-coming Vancouver Olympics, check out some to the following books at Maple Ridge library.
There are a few recent titles on offer about Canadian Olympic athletes.
• Canadians in the Winter Olympics: Canada’s Athletes, Victories, Records, Controversies, Firsts and Weird Facts, by J. Alexander Poulton, provides historical information about the impressive results and inspiring stories of
• Canadians in the Winter Olympics. Hearts of Gold: Stories of Courage, Dedication and Triumph from Canadian Olympians, by Lorne Zeiler, tells the stories of over 20 exceptional Canadian Olympic athletes, the challenges they faced and how they found the courage to rise above.
If you want more information on the Vancouver Olympics, check out the following two books by David Wallechinsky.
• The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics contains everything anyone could wish to know about the Winter Olympics. Now in its eighth edition and published in anticipation of the 2010 Vancouver Games, it has been expanded to include the rules and scoring for all the upcoming events, as well as the results from the 2006 Turin Games.
• The Complete Book of the Olympics provides a complete statistical record since the 1896 founding of the modern Games, including medals won, times, distances and scores recorded by the top eight competitors in all events.
This encyclopedic tome contains everything anyone could ever need or want to know about the modern Olympic Games.
• The Winter Olympics: An Insider’s Guide to the Legends, the Lore, and the Game, by Ron C. Judd, is the ultimate insider’s guide to Vancouver 2010. It’s a sport-by-sport guide with behind-the-scenes stories, legendary moments and amazing photographs. Judd devotes a chapter to each sport, examining its history, key competitors, new contenders, and information on how the sport is played and judged.
• For younger readers, the Outstanding Olympics: A Feast of Facts about the Glorious Games, by Clive Gifford, is a fun introduction to the Olympics.
At the library
Do you know the names of the past host cities for the Winter Olympics? If you do, enter the Maple Ridge library 2010 Winter Olympics Inukshuk Contest and be in the running to win a handmade, stone Inukshuk for your garden. Or, enter your name and phone number for our Inukshuk Stepping Stone contest.
Children are encouraged to enter one or all of our eight Olympics contests, including the Curling Maze, Olympic Pictograms, Skiing and Snowboarding Word Search, Super-G Find-a-Word, Downhill Story Starter, Create-a-Mascot, and our Olympic Colouring Pages. Don’t forget to test your wits with our interactive bulletin board on Olympic Pictograms that is upstairs in the children’s department.
• The library is celebrating Family Literacy Day on Jan. 27., from 3-4:30 p.m. with literacy games and a two-minute Scrabble game. The Community Literacy Committee will also have a table in the library. It will be full of information on how to work with your family to improve their literacy and to make reading fun.