Review – Head Over Heels Gymnastics Book

Bendy Wendy and Jumping Jack Join Gymnastics

This weekend we have been enjoying the Bendy Wendy and Jumping Jack Join Gymnastics book from Head Over Heels Gymnastics.

The concept of the book is:

This book is inspired by real life class experiences to which we can all relate, adults and children alike. Two young, apprehensive gymnasts step foot into what would appear to be a daunting new experience; their first gymnastics lesson, only to find that all is not as overwhelming as it would first appear. In no time at all Bendy Wendy and Jumping Jack make new friendships, gain confidence and learn new skills leaving them excited to return again.

My son is five and my daughter is two and a half. My son has faced exactly the scenario portrayed in the book – when he started at school in September he was due to start gymnastics lessons but his nerves got the better of him. I was hoping that this book would be a gentle way to show him that he could enjoy the classes, make friends and learn some new tricks!

The book itself is a smaller size than standard picture books, but has more pages so makes it a good engaging read (and easier to hold and show at the same time!) The characters in the book are appealing and my son particularly liked their fun names (Bendy Wendy / Jumping Jack etc.) The text is large and features a range of font sizes, which was great for my son as it picks up on what he is learning at school (basic words and upper / lower case letters).

For me it was really good that there weren’t too many words! Plus I didn’t have to try and get the right speed for rhymes, as you do with many other story books. There were also lots of opportunities to talk about the story further, and most importantly for my two children – to act out the gymnastics moves! I can definitely see that we will be going back to the Rolling, Stretching, Balancing, Leaping, Jumping and Climbing pages again (and again).

We all really enjoyed the book. It was nice to have something a bit different from your standard stories, especially as we could relate it to real life.

* Head Over Heels Gymnastics have kindly provided us with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.