Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still

Growing up in the small Romanian town of Onești, Nadia Comaneci could not sit still. Always active, always full of energy, she was a handful. Then her mother enrolled her in gymnastics classes, and the rest (as they say) is history. The first Olympic gymnast to win a perfect 10, in the 1976 Montreal games, Comeneci became a sporting icon.

As a child in the United States, I was very much aware of Nadia Comaneci and her story, having watched a made-for-tv biographical film about her as a girl. It was this film that inspired me to become involved in gymnastics myself, although for me it was more a fun activity than a serious and/or competitive endeavour. I was very pleased to learn that there was a picture-book forthcoming about Comaneci, show more given my admiration for her as a girl, and found Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still an engaging read. The artwork was appealing as well, adeptly capturing a figure in constant motion. An informative afterword provides a timeline and source material. Recommended to young gymnastics enthusiasts, and to anyone looking for engaging sports biographies for young children. show less

Nadia Comaneci was a child, who lived in Onesti Romania, and loved to be active. She would play soccer, swim, play with dolls, and climb trees just to swing from the branches. She was always getting in trouble as child because she could never sit still. Her mother signed her up for gymnastics for her to release all her energy. She loved to cartwheel around her school playground and she was noticed by a coach named Bela Karolyi and his wife Marta. She and her friend were asked to join their new gymnastic school. She joined the school at the age of 6 and trained until she mastered simple skills and then began moving onto harder skills. At the age of 9, she went to her first National Junior Championship. She struggled during this show more competition and placed in thirteenth place. At her second National Junior Championship she placed first and kept improving from there until she reached the highest level and went to the Olympics at the age of fourteen. She was the first person to score a perfect score in Olympic history. She finished her first Olympics with seven perfect scores and won five Olympic medals: three gold, one silver, and one bronze. She was the youngest Olympian to win a gold medal in gymnastics. She became famous around the world but continued to train and aim for perfection because she was a girl who could not sit still.
I really enjoyed this story. It was written well and was an all around attention grabbing story. I liked how the book started as her being a child who could not sit still and that is also how it ended, stating she was a kid who could not sit still. The beginning and the end were tied together in full circle. show less

The biography of Nadia Comaneci is all about her life growing up as a young girl who couldn't sit still, through her first trip to the Olympics. The book starts off with Nadia as a young girl, and how she could never sit still and climed and moved all over the place. Nadia lived in Romania, and she was discovered by gymnastics coaches when she was at school in the play yard. Even though Nadia had be trained by her coaches, she still performed poorly at her first competition, 13th place. Nadia continued to train, and the year she first went to the Olympics, she received a perfect score of 10.0. A perfect score had never been achieved, and Nadia was the first to do it at such a young age. When Nadia grew up, she ended up marrying another show more gymnast, Bart Conner. Together, they opened up their own gymnastics academy in Norman, Oklahoma. The structure and order of the book was written very well, as it showed the progress of movement in Nadia's life. Gymnasts don't compete for very long, so it made since that the book only went through Nadia's first Olympics competition. show less

Nadia Comaneci is a famous gymnast from Romania. She began gymnastics at a every young age. When Nadia was nine she participated in her first National Junior Championships competition where she finished in thirteenth place. Nadia was not pleased with this, so she practiced more and worked harder, she was determined. Nadia was only fourteen when she participated in the 1976 Olympic Games. She competed against the best gymnast from all over the world. She was the first gymnast in Olympic history to receive a perfect score of ten. Nadia also won five Olympic Medals and became the youngest Olympic Medalist in gymnastics ever. This biography did an excellent job of telling Nadia’s story. There was a lot of information and the accuracy is show more spot on. I have never heard the story of Nadia but the book allowed me to gain more knowledge about her and how she became a significant figure. show less

This is a biography picture book about Nadia Comaneci targeted at readers from K-4. The story starts out in Nadia’s hometown of Onesti, Romania. She was a big fan of climbing trees and taking risks. Fortunately, her parents signed her up for gymnastics and while she and a friend were practicing on a playground, they were discovered by Bela and Marta Karolyi. She transferred to a their new gymnastics school and started training. Readers will learn about how hard Nadia had to train and that she spent a lot of time practicing. At her first National Junior Championships competition, she kept falling off the balance beam and placed 13th. Nadia went back to the gym and worked even harder. At the same competition the next year, she placed show more first! She then went on the the 76 Montreal Olympics and the 80 Moscow Olympics. During the 76 Olympics, Nadia was the first female gymnast to score a perfect 10. The score board did not go past a 9.99. Nadia went on to win 5 Olympic medals (3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze). She became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics. The story ends with her going back to her town in Romania and continuing to practice. The book’s afterward addresses her defection and what she has accomplished in the US. The author provides links to Nadia Comaneci’s current website.

Gymnastics has been quite popular in the US for a while. And with the US doing so well in the last Olympics, this book came out at a good time. The illustrations are sort of cartoon like, done in watercolor. The details are accurate in terms of what the competitions looked like and what the team uniforms looked like. It is an upbeat story encouraging readers to work hard, practice and not to give up. It would be a perfect selection for an aspiring gymnast, it would be a good tie into a PE class, it would also be a great fit for a biography assignment. An art teacher could use it to show any age students how illustrators use water colors in picture books. Great for a high school Visual Arts class. I think it is a good purchase for school libraries. show less

Nadia grows up as a girl in Romania who can't sit still. Her work in the gym takes her to the Olympics where she earns the first perfect 10.0 in gymnastics history.

Genre: Biography

Summary: This book is about young Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comaneci. Nadia was never able to sit still when she was younger. To help contain her energy, Nadia's parents sign her up for gymnastics. Eventually, Nadia transfers to a gymnastics school where she can practice gymnastics all the time. Nadia practices and trains very hard. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics Nadia becomes the first female gymnast to ever score a perfect 10. She becomes the youngest Olympic gold medalist and wins 3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medal!

Uses in the Classroom: I tested this book with my youngest niece and she became disinterested after a couple pages. This book has a lot of words on a page and would not be great as a read aloud. I would show more like to keep it in my classroom because I think it would be a great resource for a biography project. Especially since it is about someone that the student's probably have not heard of. show less