Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance
Written by Simone Biles, Michelle Burford and Mary Lou Retton
Narrated by Imani Parks
4/5
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About this audiobook
In Courage to Soar, the official autobiography from four-time Olympic gold-winning and record-setting American gymnast Simone Biles, Simone shares how her faith, family, passion, and perseverance has made her one of the top athletes and gymnasts in the world—and how you too can overcome challenges in your life.
Simone Biles’ entrance into the world of gymnastics may have started on a field trip in her hometown of Spring, Texas, but her God-given talent, along with drive to succeed no matter the obstacle, are what brought her to the national spotlight during the Olympic Games and have catapulted her ever since—including 25 World Championship medals. But there is more to Simone than her accomplishments.
In this book Simone shares:
- how she has relied on her faith and family to stay focused and positive
- the ways she’s continued competing at the highest level and having fun doing what she loves
- a behind-the-scenes looks at gymnastics events, including the Olympics
- the events and challenges that carried her from an early childhood in foster care to a coveted spot on the U.S. Olympic team
- Along the way, Simone shares the details of her inspiring personal story—one filled with daily acts of courage that led her, and can lead you, to even the most unlikely of dreams.
Courage to Soar:
- presents a positive role model for young girls, whether athletes or not
- is an ideal gift for birthdays, holidays, or to celebrate important achievements
- is perfect for school assignments and reports
- is an inspirational story for fans of gymnastics or any sport
- contains an eight-page, full-color photo insert
Simone Biles
New York Times bestselling author Simone Biles is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and a three-time World all-around gymnastics champion. In 2015 at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, she became the only female gymnast to ever win three consecutive all-around titles. She is also the most decorated American female gymnast, with a total of nineteen medals, fourteen of them gold. Simone, who was born in Ohio and later adopted by her grandparents in Texas, began her training at age 6. During a serendipitous day care field trip to Bannon’s Gymnastix, a coach recognized Simone’s natural talent and sent home a letter to her parents, requesting that they enroll her in a class. Simone rose quickly through the sport’s levels, and in 2011, she began her junior elite career at the American Classics in Huntsville, Texas, where she placed third all-around. Amid a few setbacks in the following two seasons, Simone rebounded in 2013 to claim the first of her three all-around World Championship titles. With her strong faith in God and her triumph against the odds, Simone is inspiring millions to dream big and follow their hearts.
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Reviews for Courage to Soar
46 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved it, I am only 11 and it was one of the best books I have read so far. It was very inspirational.I recommend this book to people who just want to sit down on a rainy day and read.It made me laugh and smile.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great and authentic. Inspiring human being!! Thanks Simone Biles
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I also started gymnastics at the age of 6 but I couldn’t do a backflip... This is really a wonderful book to listen and even learn from... We’ll now I am ten but only on level 4 ? this is a amazing book and you can also listen it sometimes you just won’t understand all the names of the moves... Lovely book Thx Simone
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really great autobiography by/with Simone Biles. Comes across as a really delightful and dedicated human being, with a spectacular family behind her. Her story is interesting and inspiring.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Funny and sweet this was a quick, fun read. Simone's personality really came through, and it was interesting to read about her training and all the amazing effort and sacrifice that contributed to her skills.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5AUTOBIOGRAPHY/SPORTSSimone Biles (with Michelle Burford); foreword by Mary Lou RettonCourage to Soar: A Body in Motion, a Life in BalanceZondervanHardcover, 978-0-3107-5966-9 (also available as an e-book, an audio book, and on Audible), 256 pgs., $24.99November 15, 2016 This is the story of a little girl who fell in love with flying. Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance is the autobiography of gymnast Simone Biles (with an assist from Michelle Burford, journalist and founding editor of O, The Oprah Magazine), with a foreword by 1984 Olympic gold-medal winner Mary Lou Retton. Despite her tender age, Biles has an exceptional biography and an impressive resume to share, overcoming challenging family circumstances, injuries, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder to become the most decorated American female gymnast in history, culminating in triumph at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The usual sports-biography fare of innate talent, dedication, physical and mental discipline, and inspiring epigraphs, is well balanced with the more personal, even intimate. We are treated to a tangible sense of who Biles is. She’s an animated storyteller whose personality jumps off the pages in simply evocative prose. When she must, Biles reluctantly, but gracefully and succinctly, addresses the issue of race. In paragraphs liberally spiked with “OMG” and “BFF,” we read of belly rings and her crush on Zac Efron, reminding us of how very young she still is. Courage to Soar is fast-paced and engaging, highly recommended for middle grade and young adult readers, but older adults will enjoy it as well. Biles writes of her early years in foster care, her first trip to a tumbling gym during a field trip, adolescent body consciousness, truly frightening mishaps on the uneven bars (her “nemesis”), her first trip to the Karolyi training ranch outside Huntsville, Texas, and how her Catholic upbringing and faith in God helped guide her through. The writing is by turns funny, suspenseful, moving, and inspirational, and always feels honest. Addressing her “bratty period,” Biles writes “I was so full of fourteen-year-old drama, you’d have thought I was auditioning for my own reality show.” Faced with competing against her childhood idols whose approval and friendship are important to her, Biles finally concludes, “Competing my hardest in all my events was the highest form of respect I could show to them and to myself.” About the mixed blessing of fame, Biles found the perfect simile: “I needed to learn how to carry those expectations lightly—like a turtle carries its shell.” Lovely candid and posed photographs, in action during competitions and with family, enhance the story. As an inspired bonus, the interior side of the dust jacket folds out into an autographed poster of Biles hurtling through air over the vault.“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” —Muhammad AliOriginally published in Lone Star Literary Life.