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liralen's review
3.0
Your basic middle-grade gymnastics novel. This was actually a sight better than I'd expected—the (primary) author was a gymnast (an Olympic gymnast) herself, so she knows what she's talking about on that end, but my expectations for the writing were not high.
Anyway, the basic premise is that Brittany's parents have moved from Ohio to Texas to further Brittany's career as a gymnast—without seeking Brittany's input, apparently, although otherwise seem mostly reasonable. So Brittany's the new girl on the team, and good grief that child cannot keep her foot out of her mouth. Really, we're looking at surgical removal.
It worked fine for a book of this length and difficulty, but had it gone on much longer I think it would been a bit tiring—not tiresome, mind, but tiring. So much twelve-year-old-girl drama. (I do not miss being twelve. I miss ten-into-eleven even less—I had no friends that year—but, nope. I'll keep adulting, thanks.) Lots of gymnastics, too, which is nice—it's more than just the basic premise—but so. much. drama.
(And yet...of course I'll read the rest of the series, sooner or later.)
Anyway, the basic premise is that Brittany's parents have moved from Ohio to Texas to further Brittany's career as a gymnast—without seeking Brittany's input, apparently, although otherwise seem mostly reasonable. So Brittany's the new girl on the team, and good grief that child cannot keep her foot out of her mouth. Really, we're looking at surgical removal.
It worked fine for a book of this length and difficulty, but had it gone on much longer I think it would been a bit tiring—not tiresome, mind, but tiring. So much twelve-year-old-girl drama. (I do not miss being twelve. I miss ten-into-eleven even less—I had no friends that year—but, nope. I'll keep adulting, thanks.) Lots of gymnastics, too, which is nice—it's more than just the basic premise—but so. much. drama.
(And yet...of course I'll read the rest of the series, sooner or later.)
mrskatiefitz's review
3.0
Spirited prankster Brittany (Britt) Morgan is also a skilled gymnast. When she moves to a new town to start training at a bigger and better gym, she finds it difficult to adjust to the serious attitude, intense competition, and unfriendly faces of her new gymnastics team. Not only does she offend one of the girls by performing a move the other girl has not yet mastered, she also uncovers an eating disorder, makes a girl cry when trying to prank her, and finds herself struggling to impress her new coach.
I am usually not crazy about children’s books written by celebrities, but there is something appealing about a book about a gymnastics team written by an Olympic gymnast. It’s clear from early on in Britt’s story that Dominique Moceanu has lived many of these experiences firsthand. The details surrounding the gym, the various moves the girls perform, and even the tension between the girls also come across as authentic, and the details, especially, got me interested in the world of gymnastics, and therefore, in Britt’s story.
The plot wasn’t the most exciting, and included some cliches. If a book involves gymnastics, figure skating, or dancing, I always expect an eating disorder to show up, and that story line crops up almost immediately. I’ve also seen sports rivalries between girls in other books I’ve reviewed, such as McKenna (which is also about a gymnast), and Faith and the Camp Snob. It was very easy to predict what would happen between Britt and the other girls because cattiness among girls is such a common go-to tween plot.
I think a more skilled author might tell a more interesting story, but Moceanu has the unique advantage of having been an Olympic gymnast, so for girls who are aspiring gymnasts themselves, her perspective and knowledge of particular details will be the draw, not the storytelling. I did wish for some more character development, and some more information about Britt’s previous life and her friendship with her best friend, Dionne, but since this is apparently the first book in a series, I have a feeling some of those things might be revealed in later volumes.
All in all, I think Winning Team accomplishes what it sets out to do. It provides girls interested in competitive gymnastics with a fictionalized peek into that world. I’m not sure girls without this interest would be as excited about the story, but Britt is an engaging enough character that any reader will latch onto her and follow her story to find out what happens.
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