‘Simone Biles' by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara with illustrations by Nadia Fisher is book 103 in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series.

At the age of 3, young Simone went to live with her grandparents. Her raw talent was spotted by coaches on a gym field trip, and they encouraged her grandparents to sign her up. Gymnastics training became a stable point in young Simone’s life. Hard work and persistence paid off, but not without challenges like adversity and mental health challenges. Those are told at a perfect kid level here.

This is an inspiring story and the illustrations shine here. I can’t imagine this not being a hit with little readers.

Continuing with the sports theme, I decided to dive into the world of gymnastics. This is a sport I personally enjoyed during physical education in high school, especially when it involved the parallel bars. No joke—reading this book made me feel nostalgic, and I found myself wanting to get back on the PE lessons! 😊

Simone Biles is a child prodigy, so talented from a young age that her coach sent a letter to her home, inviting Simone to join the training. This is an extraordinary gesture that you don’t hear about every day. Of course, that was just the beginning of her remarkable journey. She has become a multiple world champion and an Olympic gold medalist, holding several records for both age and skill. Her story is one to read, marvel at, and live through!

The illustrations in this book deserve a special mention. Each book in this series seems to feature a different illustrator, allowing various artists to showcase their talent. For this book, the digital art style, with its pastel backgrounds, beautifully brings to life the story of this courageous and talented young girl.

Once again, I highly recommend this book for young readers and sports enthusiasts! 😊

Thank you so much, NetGallery and Frances Lincoln Children's Books, for this wonderful reading experience and for the ARC copy!

Review in Estonian (Aug 26, 2024): https://brixieblog.wordpress.com/2024/08/26/simone-biles-maria-isabel-sanchez-vegara/

So cute and inspiring! Simone is such a great role model and what a wonderful time to share her story. I fathom at 27 this is her last Olympics as an athlete but likely she will continue to be a mental and physical health advocate for athletes. Adored the artwork!

With the "The Little People, Big Dreams" series, the author has provided biographies of various famous people, written specifically for young children. By telling a story that begins with a young child, she grabs the young reader's interest. She shows how that person overcame obstacles, became involved in their eventual field and eventually reached success. This book shows that Biles and her sister were raised by her grandparents. Even though she has a rocky start in life, she found a loving home and when her talent was recognised, she became a successful gymnast. It covers her gymnastic career, including her successes but also the fact that her team spoke out against abuse and that she quit for a while for her own mental health. This helps teach kids to speak up and take care of themselves. Like the other books, there is an afterward aimed at older readers with a timeline that includes a few photographs and more details. The book does gloss over a few issues that are not age appropriate and should have either been explained in the afterward or omitted completely. It mentions that she moved in with her grandparents at the age of three, but kids will want to know why. The fact that her mother could not take care of her, could have been in the timeline. The book also raises the issue that her gymnastics team spoke out about the fact that their coaches were not behaving in their best interest. I am not sure that raising the issues of abuse, even worded so carefully is appropriate for younger readers. I wasn't sure that I remembered events correctly and it took a bit of internet searching for me to find answers to these questions. I think that the book is fantastic, but I wish that the " want to learn more?" section would have included a couple sources for the parent or teacher. This series has used several illustrators. I appreciated the realistic pictures by Nadia Fisher.

As a gymnastics mega fan I have been awaiting the story of Simone. She has overcome so many struggles and will still continue on. This book is for all to show how to overcome adversity and to show that we all have a place.

I think this is a very cute book! I was obsessed with gymnastics as a kid and this would have had me reaching for the stars. I really liked how this book provided some glimpses into some not so perfect aspects in Simone's life - it allows for conversations to happen should the child/adult reading the book want them to happen. It also shows she's human.

"Before you can achieve, you must believe in yourself"- Simone Biles

Out of all the books this is the one that I felt closes to home with. My sister did gymnastics for over 10 years and I can appreciate the amount of hours and dedication that it took for Simone over the years to get where she is today.

It was good that the book included about the importance of mental health and how Simone stepped away when she knew her body needed a break and time to recover.

It was good that the gymnastic abuse was included but unless you know about it, I think it would confusing how it was portrayed as it lead to more questions then answers but it was important to be included for this exact reason for people to speak out and to ask questions. My sister went through similar things with her gym club and since then I know of other gymnasts who have since ended up struggling with mental health and have seek out help.

I think with Simone Biles book it shows that in some cases with this series that you wish the book was longer and went in more depth about her life- especially growing up and moving in grandparents. But this is also part of the point of the books that helps encourage young readers to research more into each person life.

As always I loved the illustrations especially including Biles achievements -first woman in history to land a Yurchenko Double Pike in competition. She is such an inspiration for her determination from a young age and knowing what she wanted to do. To now being one of the greatest gymnasts.

I will be definitely picking up a physical copy of this book to add to my collection.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of the book for an honest review.

I learned a lot about Simone from this book! She's a really iconic and important person for this generation's children- a symbol of strength and talent. As a teacher, I would definitely add this book to my own classroom library, both as a resource and as a fun, general read for my kids. It's important that students see themselves in their classroom and this book is definitely one that would aid in that journey for me.

If there is an athlete who deserves to have children read about them in picture book format, that's Simone Biles. As I've come to expect from this series, the illustrations are amazing. Biles' story is told from her fostering by her grandparents, through her talent being discovered and various moments from her career. The aim of this book isn't only to lionise Biles as the incredible gymnast that she is but also to show the moments where she advocated for herself and others.

The only issue I have with the writing is that at times it's extremely vague, sometimes to the point of censorship. When recounting how Biles and her teammates spoke up against sexual abuse the book the text says "they bravely spoke against the adults in charge of the team were doing wrong".

I thought the illustrations were cute, but it felt too short and just had random facts thrown in, like when Simon went to live with her grandparents at a young age or "some adults were doing something wrong." While these things are important, some children might not understand the context of these situations so it just seemed kind of thrown into the story. This book had potential to really talk about mental health topics. Maybe it should have just focused on one aspect of Simon Biles' life and then reach some sort of overarching message.

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest opinion.

I've said it before and I will say it again - the 'Little People, BIG DREAMS' series is amazing.
The auther always finds a way to talk about dificult topics while keeping the content understandable for almost anyone.
And it is a great way to introduce important characters to people who may have never heard of them.

The book on Simone Biles is no exception to this. It deals with her struggles growing up, and throughout her gymnastics career, while focussing on her successes and why she is an inspiration to many.
As always, the story is accompanied by wholesome illustrations of the events in Simone's life.

Thanks for the ARC!

I love the way this series sheds a light on celebrity heroes and their accomplishments through the eyes of a child. Simone Biles has been through so much already and Vergara addresses this tactfully without shying away from it all. Another 5 star addition to the series.

I loved the colorful illustrations and how well Simone's story was adapted for a young audience. Simone has worked hard to achieve so much, from difficult gymnastics feats to standing up for herself both when her body and mental health needed a break, as well as when she and her teammates were being abused.

I love seeing talented women winning. Truly an impressive feat. Go Simone you’re a real inspiration ♥️

I was gifted an electronic version of this book by the publisher, and then I purchased my own copy! I absolutely love this, and so do my four and six year old daughters. They are both gymnasts, but I definitely don’t think they would have to be to enjoy this story. They love reading it, and then watching clips of her routines. She is such an amazing role model!

Simone Biles is an idol in gymnastic and every time she gets up on stage, I know she will do it brilliant.

To read and learn more about her, warms the heart for an gymnastic girl and giving the children an black idol!

Totally worth the read!

Thank you NetGalley!

Simone Biles is such an inspirational story for children to read. It is a thoughtfully written and beautifully illustrated book that kids and adults will enjoy reading. Anyone who loves gymnastics and stories of perseverance will want to read this one.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is my first time reading about Simone Biles, and this woman is so inspiring. She knew what she likes, and pursue it, then excelled at it. It also take courage and grace to know that she needed a break when she needs one, and dares to do it. Even though this is the first time I heard about Simone, this woman can inspire young minds.

This book is perfect for introducing children to biographies and to the world of gymnastics. It can also help children, especially girls of colour, to see that they can dream and achieve big things!

I didn't know about Simone Biles before reading this book, but I definitely want to see her competitions now.

I really like this "Little people big dreams" concept by Maria Vegara to let children learn about popular personalities. Here we know about Simone Biles, one of the most successful Gymnasts from USA.
I still remember watching her perform in RIO Olympics. Never knew that she was sexually assaulted too by her physician depicting which there was a matter in this picture which initially seemed irrelevant to me (When they bravely spoke up about the things adults in charge of the team were doing wrong, they realized that together they were strong!) but I searched the context and learn about it now. Author seeking her targeted readers being children wrote it ambiguously hidden in her words.

However, One thing is still hideous to me that when all those female sports person were making their career and earning name, fame and money, they bore everything bad but suddenly when things became in their favor they start spoiling careers of their board members. If someone is really that esteemed and value their chastity then why they made career by accepting ugly offers? and even if you did accept then why cry later? This becomes habit now all over the world.

Overall, this is a good book as what I mentioned in previous para was my calculation based on reality fact-checks I have seen barely happening wrong towards male counterparts or supporting members of organizations be it in sports of media, cinema and corporate world.
No doubt I appraise Simone Biles for her achievements and she really must have inspired many more such Simones in becoming in future.