[.ca] Little Girls In Pretty Boxes: The Making And Breaking Of ... (ISBN 0446676829)

What a waste of time!:
What an extremely biased, unfiar, and untrue this book was! First of all, lets start with the title. It was so misleading. What about figure skaters? Ryan deffinetely had a fun time attacking women's gymnastics, but I found almost NOTHING on figure skating in that book. I can't believe she thinks she researched the subject well! Now, Ryan simply focused on the negatives. What's a research without a description of the negative side and the positive side? This woman is so unprofessional. You can't believe how many gymnasts earned full college scholarships because of their gymnastics, got straight A's at school because of the discipline, and made so many friendships when traveling abroad. Sure, there have been those odd cases were things just get out of hand...but, they are a MINORITY. More ballerinas have died from anorexia than gymnasts and skaters ever have. More soccer players have DIED playing soccer than gymnasts and skaters ever had. Just because this sports look a little more "dangerous" doesn't mean they actually are. Trust me, I'm saying all this from experience. After all, I am a gymnast myself. Let me tell you, I have a teammate who's BOTH a figure skater and a gymnast and can't think about anything negative about the two. Plus, I've got an elite teammate who's probably the most cheerful person inside and outside the gym. I want to add that I know many gymnasts who were interviewed for the book were EXTREMELY disappointed with how it turned out. They said things were taken out of context and that they love gymnastics more than anything. I wanted you to know that, Ryan. What a waste of time. Don't read this book. I am lucky I know and have lived the truth. Ryan, you are deffinetely wrong.

Very Effective View:
This book was very effective in showing the world some of the truths about gymnastics and figure skating. This book may be hard on the heart (and do keep in mind these stories are from the elite level) but it's something that every parent and gymnast should read if they are thinking of going into the elite levels. Great coaches reading also!

Shocking but exaggerated:
Although this is perhaps the first gymnastics book I have ever heard of, it took me the longest time to go ahead and read it simply because I didn't want to read something that was derogatory about gymnastics. But then I decided that if I was going to become a true fan on gymnastics, I might was well read about both sides of it, and I borrowed this book. Before I say anything else, let me just mentioned that this is a very interesting book. One night I planned on reading one chapter and ended up reading several. So if you do read this book, you will not be bored. But aside from that, this book tells you about gymnast's trouble with anorexia and bulimia, and how some girls starved themselves to make themselves look thin. I think if you're going to show the bad side to gymnastics, you have to show the good side as well. Yes, girls did starve themselves, and coaches did call them degrading names, but the author didn't tell about the girls who didn't starve themselves, about the coaches that treated their gymnasts firmly but with respect, and the rewards that came with that. This book was entirely one-sided, and it could leave you with a bad taste in the mouth if you're not careful. I was in a webchat with Shannon Miller not too long ago, and I asked her what she thought about the book. She said that she hadn't read it because she 'preferred not to read fiction', and that she knew what was true and what wasn't. I believe her! One of the things I read in there said that Steve Nunno was only into coaching to get what he could get out of it. Joan Ryan, the person who wrote this book, has some serious catching up to do. I also think that some of the comments about Bela Karolyi were exaggerated. Yes, he did call his gymnast's names, but I don't think he was as cruel as the book says. If he was, why did Kerri Strug go back to him when he came out of retirement? If he had really mistreated her, than she would have stayed as far away from him as possible. I found it hard to believe everything that this book said about him. This was the book that gave gymnasts so much trouble when it was published, and I can see why. Some of the stories will shock to no end, but if you really must know how it was, then read this book. But be warned! IT IS NOT ALL TRUE!!!

Gone too far:
Read about this book to learn about yet another way in which the American drive to produce winners in athletics has gone too far. This author focuses on the abuse of young girls in gymnastics and skating; however, I see the problems in these sports as part of the bigger picture. Our culture places such a high value on athletics that no sport has gone unscathed. I myself was a competitive swimmer and saw various friends battle injuries, eating disorders, alcoholism, and other demons as direct or indirect consequences of the demands of our sport. Every once in a while, a great star is produced, and all the sacrifices seem to have been worth it. The truth is, however, that for every Michael Phelps there are thousands of casualties. It's hard to believe, though, that change is forthcoming- are we willing to preserve the health and well-being of children by freely accepting that by cutting back training schedules, etc., we will not produce the great athletes that we have been? I don't see it coming. As long as baseball players are making outrageous salaries and sports stars are revered as the heroes of today, we will continue to chase the dream and sacrifice literally anything and everything to be successful, as are the little girls in pretty boxes of this book.

A good book even for non-gymnasts/skaters:
Though I am not a gymnast or an iceskater, this book was touching for me. I wouldn't know the true things that go on during practices, or if the stories choosen were only the ones that went over the top. But this did make me look at the way these athletes were treated in a different way. The stories were haunting and some of the statistics were startling. I do agree that the focus of the book was mainly on gymnast and I wanted to hear more stories from the ice. I'm not sure if it's my place to say any of this, since most of the reviews on here are not in favor of this book. I recommend this book to any current gymnast/skater or someone considering the sport. Not to scare anyone away, but to maybe show them the reality of what might happen.