The Boys in the Boat: The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics by Gregory Mone

The Boys in the Boat: The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics Reviews

• 
  Taury

  Good informative NF book about the rowers in the 1936 olympics in Berlin just as Germany was on the brink of war. The book spoke of a couple men as they grew up to compete. Their stories.
• 
  David

  5.0
  Brilliant!!! This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. The fact that my heart started pumping during the description of numerous races I already knew the outcome to speaks volumes about the skills of the author. As amazing as the story of the competitions may have been it was the lessons in life threaded throughout the book that will stay with me the most. I love the messages of perseverance against all odds, hardwork, overcoming heartbreak, the power of teamwork, selflessness, the love of two soul mates, the lessons of history, the spirit at the heart of America, setting and attaining goals and ultimately good overcoming evil that are found after every turn of a page. I think this young adult adaptation is phenomenal and I will most definitely be reading the adult version at some point because I didn't want this book to end and I think it gives a more thorough account of some of the major historical events. This young adult version has the right mixture of history, excitement, and inspiration for my students. I can't wait to see what they think.
• 
  Brittnee

  I accidentally checked out this version, the "young readers" adaption by mistake but I'm glad I did. :) I didn't know much about rowing before reading this - so fun to learn about it. I really, really enjoyed reading the story of these guys - about hard work, perseverance and overcoming when the odds are stacked against them. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed at the end. This book is a great read for all ages!
• 
  Julie Suzanne

  I had no interest in reading this. It's about sports. Enough said. So this was assigned reading, really. It's a Battle of the Books pick, so I was stuck with it. I listened to the audiobook, and OH MY GOD. I gripped the steering wheel in my car in suspense during descriptions of races, I cried multiple times, I cheered out loud, and I had feelings, feelings, feelings about a sport. What a story, and what a writer to make me care about the boys in the boat. I give it 4 stars just for the brilliance of someone who can elicit that from me with this topic, but I give it an extra star because I had a change of perspective.
  
  If you had asked me about whether or not we should have boycotted the Olympic Games in Nazi Germany, 1936, I would have adamantly said, "Absolutely." However, after the vicarious experience of all of those races and finding out that Joe's team was going to make it to the Olympics after all, the thought of boycotting was as absurd as I had previously thought NOT boycotting had been. How could we not let those boys go, just because of politics? But it wasn't just politics; it was like 11 million lives....so I had to really think, and seeing different perspectives helps me grow a little.
  
  I have a new respect for the Olympics, rowing, and, to be honest, writers. If you could make me like this book, I realize that anyone can sell me anything, given enough talent.
  
  LOVED THIS BOOK, and I hope my students will give it a try as well.
  
  Update: I just read this book aloud to my (nonreader) husband over the course of a week while he was in a hospital and then home recuperating. A PERFECT bonding-over-books experience. His only complaint is that I had to stop and cry way too many times. He didn't cry once, but I've heard him talk about the book to all of his family members when they call. He's not fooling me. I loved it as much the second time as the first.
• 
  Sandra

  This is one of those books I just couldn't put down. I am quite interested in WWII, and to have a true success story, with Nazi Germany as a back ground, well, this was a double dip of happiness for me. In addition, the author weaves together the unrelenting depression, when so many lost so much, including Joe Rantz's family. There is just so much in this book. The dust bowl. Weather statistics that have yet to be broken. Child abandonment. The Olympics of 1936, in Nazi Germany. And the deliberate deception perpetrated by Hitler and his SS to hide and deceive the rest of the world. Page 359...."Within days of the closing ceremony of the 1936 Olympics, the Nazis renewed their persecution of German Jews and others to whom they believed they were superior.....the brutality, the terror resumed..."
• 
  Rebekah Morris

  I’ve been hearing about this story and wanting to read it for some time, so when my mom decided to get the adapted for young readers version, I jumped at the chance to see if it was any good. While I haven’t read the other version, I can say that this one was really good. It grabbed my attention and I just wanted to keep reading.
  This book focuses mostly on the life of one of the boys, Joe Rantz, instead of following all or most of the boys in the boat. It also mentioned in the back that this version didn’t go into details about the crash on Wall Street that started the Great Depression or the agriculture issues that led to the Dust Bowl. And, while it did take you into the pre-war Germany and let you see what Hitler was doing, it didn’t spend a lot of time on it in this version.
  Before I read this book, I knew zero about the rowing teams and what they are like. Very interesting.
  I wouldn’t hesitate to hand this version of the book to my nephews as it’s a powerful story of courage, determination, grit, and what it means to be a part of something bigger than just yourself.
  Recommended for those not wanting to read the full version.
• 
  Laura

  Very well done and interesting.
• 
  Jill

  I read this with my 13 year old son and we both really enjoyed it. Having read both the 'regular' and 'young reader's edition', I think I would probably stick with the full version. Unless you're reading to really young readers (maybe under 10), I think you miss parts of the story that bring it more color & life. There isn't content that I would worry about for older kids & I missed some of the detail from the original. That being said, this story is still fantastic. Really glad we read this together.
• 
  Kim Clifton

  I'm not a runner, so the one time I stood at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I was shocked when I found myself crying. Watching people push themselves to do something against the limits of human athleticism moved me in a way I couldn't expect. Reading this book must have been a similar experience because I found myself choking up the entire time. I don't even like sports. Why is my face so wet?!?
• 
  Katie Proctor

  I really enjoyed this book—adapted for younger readers. I thought it was such an inspiring story!
• 
  Sheri Joyce

  This is such a great story! I've read the regular edition and now this young reader's edition and each time I tear up with this story! You do not need to be a fan of rowing, sports, or the Olympics to thoroughly appreciate it.
  
  My 7th graders have LOVED it and have really gotten into the "tense" parts of the book (racing, etc).
• 
  Greta Slabach

  Excellent read about a sport I had never heard of and an event that was so important in pre-WWII history. But no one really talks about it either.
  You should definitely read this book! I got so emotionally involved and this was only the adapted version for young readers. Still really good.
  This adapted version was the first I had heard of this book and now I want the original.
  
  Boys. Teamwork. Struggle. Pain. Loss and hardship. Close calls and endurance. This book has it all.
• 
  Dani

  Read this young readers version of this book as a read-aloud to my daughter and son (8 and 11). We all loved it! Such a great story of how adversity can make us strong and determined, and how learning to depend on others can deepen our connections and bring us hope and joy.
• 
  Janet

  Our first read-aloud of the year and we tore through it in just a few days. We read this YA-adapted version, though I am quite curious what the original version includes. The kids loved the suspenseful regatta scenes, but also cared about the main character's upbringing (warning: abusive) and the dynamics of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.
• 
  Karen

  Our family listened to this book at the recommendation of my oldest son who read it in school. It was a great family audiobook. The story is compelling. We plan to watch the races described in the book on YouTube this week.
• 
  Kendra Kendle

  I love this book. Reads like a novel. So good.
• 
  Wendee

  I knew this would be good but have not gotten to it until now unfortunately. It exceeded expectations and will be added to my favorites.
• 
  Abby Johnson

  Okay. So, first of all, I have read the original adult version of this book (listened to the audiobook) and LOVVVEEEDDD it. So this is truly a review of the adaptation for young people.
  
  It included my favorite bits, which were compellingly written play-by-plays of the important races that the guys rowed. I think there was less of an emphasis on the elite history of the sport of rowing crew, which softened the edge of competition between the crews from the West and the crews from the East. I think this book still does bring history to life in a nice way (for example: as the boys are coming home west from a competition in the East, they travel through dust storms that were the start of the Dust Bowl). I also think that this is a great story of a working class kid, a kid with the deck really stacked against him, defying the odds and doing something awesome. It's a lesson in resiliency and hard work paying off without feeling like a lesson.
  
  But a big (maybe fatal?) flaw for me in this young reader's version is the inclusion of a photo of some of the boys at the 1936 Olympics wearing feathers tied around their heads (a la "playing Indian") with zero explanation of what they are doing. The caption just states their names. It is inappropriate to include this photo of stereotypical cultural appropriation at all, let alone with no explanation or historical note. I would rather have no photo than this one included. I'm guessing it was also included in the adult version of the book (I don't know for sure since I listened to the audiobook), which still bothers me but bothers me less since I would expect adult readers to come to the book with a larger frame of reference with which to interpret this offensive photo.
• 
  Nina

  My book club picked this book for its latest selection. It's become quite a popular book becoming a pick for "One Book, One Community" so I thought I'd have no trouble getting a copy at the library. I was wrong. But I found one available copy! It had a different cover than the others, but didn't think anything of it. Come to find out, I've been reading the 'Young Readers Adaptation' the whole time. I blew through most of the book in one night, bragged to my book club about finishing early and thinking my son would really like this book!
  
  I've added my name to the hold for the unabridged version wondering what I've missed, if I should make the effort to read that book too or move on with my other TBRs.
  
  What made this book so special for me was the local connection, about a rowing team from Seattle, Washington. I could just imagine the scenery, weather and water described in the book since I have paddled the frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest in my kayak.
  
  I'm also enjoying extending my learning on this book, watching black and white clips of the 1936 gold medal race on You Tube and interviews with the author.
  
  What I found especially curious was how this book came to be. The author was invited to Joe Rantz's house because he liked the author's other book. Um, in his other book he wrote about the lost Donner Party. Creepy! Now that I mentioned it, I might like to read that too.
• 
  Jackie

  The Boys in the Boat: The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics is a fabulous story of true grit and determination. These nine young men from the University of Washington set out to be the best rowers the world had to offer. With hardly any money to their names, living in the depths of The Great Depression, these men were sons of farmers, loggers, and shipyard workers, hardly any match to the wealthy and privileged rowers from the East Coast who usually took the title.
  
  This story is truly un-put-down-able and reads like a suspense novel ascending to its final and thrilling conclusion at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics. Foreshadowing Hitler's fall from domination, these American men gave their all in the face of adversity. An incredibly well-researched informational text that includes an author's note, timeline of events, instructions on rowing by their coach, diagrams, historical photographs, and an index.
• 
  Benny

  Incredible to read about the team and the obstacles that Joe overcame throughout his early years.
• 
  Ruth

  This is my favorite book of 2016 so far, by far. It's so intriguing that one can already know the outcome of historical events and yet thrill at the suspense of the story itself. The wholehearted yearning of Joe Rantz and his fellows to overcome all odds is the human story in a nutshell. My inner cynic could argue that this is just a more protracted, old-fashioned version of the athlete profiles journalists tell during every Olympics. But so what. I loved reading how these boys and their boat triumphed over adversity even with all the odds stacked against them. It also reminds me that there is great strength in humility, trust, friendship, hard work, and idealism. In our hard-boiled world, those virtues are needed more than ever.
• 
  Laycie Moss

  Apparently, I listened to the YA version on audiobook without realizing it. I didn't even know there was more than one version. Come to find out that authors are currently releasing versions of non-fiction books for young readers that have graphic scenes edited out. I think that's wonderful! From what I found out, the original version of this particular book was not really graphic, so much as, it contains more detailed descriptions of rowing that might be difficult for younger readers to understand. So, I feel like I got the meat and potatoes of the story and was able to read it more quickly. Very enjoyable and inspiring story. Highly recommended!
• 
  Valerie

  My nine year old and I read the Young Reader's version of this book together and we both loved it! We were hooked from the very beginning and didn't want to put it down each night. Who knew that rowing could be so intense and exciting? I love that this was such an inspiring, memorable read for us to share together. I would highly recommend this and I'm picking up the adult book to read again.
• 
  Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett

  The Boys in the Boat is fantastic! I really did not think that I would love a book about rowing/crew as much as I did. This book really hooks the reader in with the interesting backstories of "the boys," Joe Rantz in particular.
  
  Their quest for the 1936 Olympics is fascinating as well. It's a wonderful book with a good selection of images, diagrams and timelines.
• 
  Kari Sweeten

  This is one of those books that make you want to go out, try something new, work your tail off, and succeed at anything!