Winning Balance

June 1, 2012

Johnson has led a charmed life, bringing home a gold medal in the 2008 summer Olympics and winning the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars, all before the age of 20. Along with French (coauthor, Bristol Palin's My Journey So Far), Johnson writes an incredibly upbeat memoir in which she catalogs her years as an Olympic gymnast while remaining a good student and weathering the difficulties of adolescence easily by trusting in God. Gymnastics enthusiasts will find interesting the segments about training with the famous Bela and Marta Karolyi. At times overly simplistic, naive, and self-absorbed, Johnson imparts life lessons that she outlines at the end of each chapter, which ensures that readers over 25 will find her book juvenile. VERDICT Gymnastics fans will no doubt enjoy the details, but this book should have been marketed to teen readers, who are more likely to appreciate the youthful tone and adolescent perkiness. Compared with Beard, reviewed above, Johnson's book lacks depth and wisdom about real-life struggles and comes off as memoir-lite.--Holly Hebert, Brentwood P.L., TN

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2012
Olympic gold-medalist gymnast Johnson has written an endearing memoir of her rise to winning three silver medals and one gold at age 16. Every bit as interesting are her accounts of coping with the aftermath of fame, both as an Olympic champion and as a reality-TV star on Dancing with the Stars. Among the details: slips on the balance beam in front of Olympic judges, spats with parents, learning to wear heels, and realizing that what looks good on TVmakeup and hair extensionscan look strange in person. Johnson's balanced beginnings seem almost too idyllic at the start of the book, but as her struggle toward Olympic glory plays out, we come to appreciate the sturdy values of parents who knew instinctively to honor her high energy and uniqueness. Johnson emerges as a powerhouse champion with a winning attitude, always making the best of circumstances, even an injury that could have ended her career. Her book celebrates both family love and faith in God as wellsprings of strength. A solid offering from a woman wiser than her years suggest she might be.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)