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A Sporting Chance: How Ludwig Guttman Created the Paralympic Games
CCBC Review:
Ludwig Guttmann was a Jewish doctor who fled Germany for England in the late 1930s. At Oxford University he continued some of his previous work in neurology, although no longer working directly with patients. Asked to set up a unit for treating soldiers with spinal injuries at a hospital outside London, his radical approach, counter to all previous accepted practices, transformed medicine for and attitudes toward individuals with paralysis. Refusing to accept warehousing patients and hopelessness as the norm, he focused on helping prepare patients to live, not die. He began physical therapy and training programs. He set up employment training and work opportunities and, inspired by patients who created their own wheelchair polo game, eventually began a sports program. The competition that grew out of this, the Stoke Mandeville Games (named for the hospital), eventually became the Paralympics. This fascinating account, which includes historic photographs and original illustrations, also addresses the anti-Semitism Guttmann faced. Detailed source information, a timeline, notes and index conclude the volume. ©2021 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Illustrated by Allan Drummond
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-14
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Substantial Narrative Non-Fiction
Subjects:
20th Century
Ableism
Anti-Semitism
History (Nonfiction)
Jewish People
Medicine
Physical Disability
Sports
Diversity subject:
Jewish
Physical Disability/Condition
On CCBC Booklist:
Game On! Books About Games and Gaming
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publish Year: 2020
Pages: 114
ISBN: 9781328580795
CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 796 Alexander