Olympic Greats

Series Review: Designed with the reluctant reader in mind, the volumes in the Rank It! series present high-interest content in an easily consumable format. Following a brief introduction to the topic are short profiles that highlight pertinent yet engaging facts. Each profile also includes an attention-grabbing photo and a “Rank It!” box with related by-the- numbers statistics. Earth’s Scary Animals describes how certain animals, from the black widow spider to the great white shark, have garnered a scary rep from their size and/or methods of killing and defense. Natural Disasters covers Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti as well as other deadly floods, tsunamis, heat waves, volcano eruptions, and storms around the world in the twentieth and twenty-first centu- ries. Olympic Greats explains why both recent winners, such as Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, and now-legendary achievers, such as Jesse Owens and Sonja Henie, stand out in Olympic history. Planes and Choppers looks at the special features of the Boeing 747-8, UH-60 Black Hawk, and other commercial and military aircraft. Interspersed between profiles are full-page visuals that add more information, such as the parts of a helicopter or how tornadoes form, while a concluding series of charts and graphs sum up the “Rank It!” statistics. A pleasing series for the visual learner.