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Dan Gutman
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Ice Skating: From Axels to Zambonis Paperback – December 1, 1997

by Dan Gutman (Author)
3.4 3.4 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
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Introduces the history, famous performers, anecdotes, and trivia of the sport of ice skating
Previous page
  1. Reading age
    9 years and up
  2. Print length
    208 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    7 - 9
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.5 x 9.25 inches
  6. Publisher
    Puffin
  7. Publication date
    December 1, 1997
  8. ISBN-10
    0140375015
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0140375015
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Puffin (December 1, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140375015
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140375015
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 9 years and up
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 9
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.5 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.4 3.4 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

About the author

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Dan Gutman

Dan Gutman

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I was born in a log cabin in Illinois and used to write by candlelight with a piece of chalk on a shovel. Oh, wait a minute. That was Abraham Lincoln.

Actually, I’m a children's book author. I’ve written more than 170 books for kids from kindergarten up to middle school.

For the little ones, I write picture books like "Rappy the Raptor," about a rapping raptor named Rappy, who raps.

For beginning readers, I write "My Weird School," about some kids who go to a school in which all the grownups are crazy. Thirty-one million copies have been sold. I also write “Wait! WHAT?” a series of biographies that focus on the unusual aspects of people like Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Muhammad Ali, and Teddy Roosevelt.

For middle-graders, I write the baseball card adventure series, about a boy who has the power to travel through time using a baseball card like a time machine. He goes on adventures with players like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and others.

For advanced readers, I write "The Genius Files," "Flashback Four,” “Houdini and Me” and others.

If you’d like to find out more, visit my web site (www.dangutman.com), my Facebook fan page, and follow me on Twitter and Instagram @dangutmanbooks.

Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
3.4 out of 5
3 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

L.McConnor
4.0 out of 5 stars Ice sKATING
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2014
Verified Purchase
I was trying to find something on ice skating since we didn't have anything in our library.I was hoping for a fun story for younger kids, but couldn't find any. It was a littler older than I wanted but it will work for the ice skaters we have at our school.
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ealovitt
4.0 out of 5 stars Axels, salchows, and the Dutch Roll
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2007
My sister and niece both figure skate competitively, so I figured it was time to learn something about their sport. "Ice Skating" by Dan Gutman is a good beginner's book with lots of memorable quotations, although even I know that his description of a `death spiral' is incorrect:

"The couple originated the `death spiral' spin---the one in which the lady is held by her legs [sic] and spun in a wide circle so her head nearly scrapes the ice."

This book was published in 1995 and contains short biographies and color pictures of some of the skaters (mostly but not entirely American) who were popular back then, including Michelle Kwan, Christopher Bowman, Scott Hamilton, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

One of my favorite biographies is that of Dick Button, who is pictured as an earnest young man in a flying sit spin. I have always loved him for his acerbic commentary on the TV ice skating championships, but he was first and foremost a top skater, and the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating. (He also used to have a full head of hair!). I had always thought Button was famous for his spins, but he also introduced many new jumps, including the double salchow, the double loop, the double flip, the double lutz, the double axel, and the difficult triple axel (which some men still have problems performing, including the current world champion).

The author spins a sprightly history of ice skating (mainly figure skating), starting with the unfortunate Swiss skater who tumbled through a hole in the ice and drowned some time around 3000 B.C. This accident preserved for posterity the first primitive pair of bone skates ever discovered, although historians believe the people of Finland were actually the first to don skates.

"Ice Skating" is a quick, enjoyable read for those of us who would like to learn more about this graceful sport.
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