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Olympic children's book launch
Topics: children's books, ancient Greek, olympics, intermediate grades, book talk, author
Posted by kriswrites Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:20:10 PDT
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Kristi McCracken, a valley educator, weekly columnist and published author, is set to launch her latest children’s book about the ancient Olympics. Join her at 6:00 Friday evening, August 22, at Russo’s Bookstore in the Marketplace for an entertaining multimedia presentation.  She’ll sign copies of her book, "The Olympics," after the talk.

As Olympic fever spreads across the country and the world, many are tuning into to nightly broadcasts of this popular sporting event. With a national focus on the prowess of our most talented athletes, modern day Olympic viewers remind McCracken of the ancient Greeks spectators.

The modern games are doing things on a larger scale. If you add the number of performers and athletes of the Beijing Games, that would surpass the total spectators who viewed the ancient Olympics at their peak. Beijing estimates about seven million spectators for 17 days of competition. The 40,000 Greeks traveled to watch five days of sporting festivals.

While the modern games are known by the city that hosts them such as the Beijing Olympics, the ancient Greeks named their Olympics for the winner of the stade race which is similar to our 100 meter dash. Stade means the length of the stadium. The first games were known as the Korebos Games after the man who won the stade. Even though the modern games are known for the city name, this year’s Olympics might be remembered by the athlete who swam the fastest - the Phelps Games.

McCracken is enthralled with the physical accomplishments of the Olympic contenders and stays up late to watch the games. Since she is a “forty something” gal who swims laps regularly, she cheered Dara Torres on for each of her silver medals.

Kristi’s son, Drew, is a nationally ranked swimmer, so she watched each of Michael Phelps events as well.  Drew placed fourth in the butterfly at national competition this spring in a high tech swimsuit that had been given to him by Jason Lezak.

Lezak’s name hadn’t meant much to McCracken until she saw his incredible anchor leg of the 4 x 100 relay where he “out-touched” the Frenchman for the gold medal. McCracken’s son called her at midnight after that race and said, “Did you see that Mom?  He’s the guy that gave me my swimsuit. My coach introduced me to Jason Lezak when he was visiting campus before national. Jason and I wear the same size suit and he had extra ones from his sponsors. He let me have my pick.”

McCracken speaks with pride about her son and says that birthing a book is about like having another child. Her Olympic book is written at the fourth grade level with sixth grade content. This easy to read book helps interest intermediate students learn facts about Greek history. The entire book is also available on a read along CD which is helpful for squirmy travelers in the car and struggling readers who need extra support for comprehension.

When asked about the content of her book, she talked about all the interesting facts she learned while researching the ancient Olympics.  For example, today Nike refers to a brand of athletic wear, but in the Greece long ago, Nike was known as the goddess of victory. Athletes made offerings to statues of her before they competed. 

The ancient Olympic ceremonies also involved the sacrifice of white oxen to Zeus. This not only fed the spectators but boys especially like reading about the gross blood pouring out onto the ground and the flies that it attracted.

As an educator not only does she teach gifted fifth graders, but she is a workshop presenter to other educators at conferences across the state. You’re in for a treat as she’s a seasoned speaker who’s spoken at various state conferences for GATE (Gifted and Talented Education), CUE (Computer Using Educators), and for the CRA (California Reading Association) to audiences of hundreds.

Since her home town of Porterville no longer has a bookstore, she’s launching her latest book in Bakersfield. Come meet the author at 6:00 on Friday night at Russo’s Bookstore four miles west of Highway 99 on Ming Avenue in the Marketplace shopping center. She said she scheduled the event early enough that you can get home to watch the modern Olympics after her book talk.

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