Rating: 
Summary: mixed feelings
Review: I have been a fan of gymnastics and figure skating since the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and was awed by the awesome feats of those teenage girls who had the bodies of 12 year olds. Curiosity led to me to read Little Girls and my suspicions were confirmed by ryan's words. Common sense alone led to my fears that there were eating disorders, explosive coaches, and extreme pressures for some of these young athletes who were competing on a world wide stage. But I disagree with Ryan painting gymnastics and figure skating as a prison for all young girls and all coaches as slave drivers. Not all coaches are as cruel as she makes them out to be and almost all athletes training to compete on the elite stage have tremendous pressures, demanding coaches, and issues with their bodies to contend with, not just these two sports. Which doesn't make it right, but people are kidding themselves if they think athletes aren't willing to go to extremes to be the best at their sport. Gymnasts and figure skaters just deal with them at an earlier age. Not to mention that obsessive parents are right behind all athletes of all sports, which doesn't help. But almost all athletes are taught lessons of discipline and determination, which wasn't mentioned in her book. Isn't that why Shannon Miller, Amy Chow, Jayce Phelps, etc. all have 4.0 GPA's? What i'm saying is that Ryan gets her point across that Gymnastics and Figure Skating are extremest sports. But she exaggerates when she calls them "celebrated child abuse." Although these sports aren't always what they seem to be neither is this book, only showing a negative outlook on the sports. She is only taking tramatic incidents from several bitter athletes out of hundreds of thousands and painting a bloody picture over two extremely beautiful and artistic sports.
Rating: 
Summary: What really happens behind the scenes is finally revealed
Review: Think that female gymnasts and figure skaters are happy pittle pixies, racking up medals effortlessly, never having a problem with their coaches or being pressured by parents? Not so, claims Joan Ryan, author of this startling book. Ryan's well-researched, well-written book takes you behind the scenes of these two sports. Fair warning: This book is NOT about the recreational side of gymnastics and figure skating; it's a look at the ELITE side. Gymnasts and figure skaters do not lead the perfect and happy lives that the media is constantly yapping about. Far from it! They have to deal with life-threatening injuries and eating disorders, parents who only care about their daughter winning, and politics and money. Besides from explanations about problems with these sports, Ryan writes about true accounts that happened to actual gymnasts and figure skaters. She writes about Julissa Gomez's vaulting accident that caused her to become paralyzed and die, Christy Henrich's battle with anorexia and bulimia which also caused her to die, the story behind Kim Kelly being voted off the 1992 Olympic team, the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan saga, and much, much more. Gymnasts and figure skates live a very tough, pressurized life, and Joan Ryan unzips the media's hype. As she explains, they only have one chance to win. One chance to be perfect. This book will explain to you that not everyone who participates in this sport ends up retiring winning five Olympic medals, being happy, and feeling great. This book is a must read for all gymnasts, parents, coaches- basically anyone whose involved in these two sports.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book even for non-gymnasts/skaters
Review: Though I am not a gymnast or an iceskater, this book was touching for me. I wouldn't know the true things that go on during practices, or if the stories choosen were only the ones that went over the top. But this did make me look at the way these athletes were treated in a different way. The stories were haunting and some of the statistics were startling. I do agree that the focus of the book was mainly on gymnast and I wanted to hear more stories from the ice. I'm not sure if it's my place to say any of this, since most of the reviews on here are not in favor of this book. I recommend this book to any current gymnast/skater or someone considering the sport. Not to scare anyone away, but to maybe show them the reality of what might happen.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Joan Ryan's "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" goes behind the scenes to describe the horrors and dangers of gymnastics and figure skating. More than half of the book was focused on gymnastics, but only several chapters were about figure skating. The book gave many different examples to back up its information, such as Julissa Gomez's vaulting accident that caused her to be paralyzed and die later, Christy Henrich's obsession to be thin so she starved herself to death, Kim Kelly's voting off the 1992 Olympic Team at the second "trial", and the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding saga. The book is mainly about the gymnasts and figure skaters who have suffered at the elite level, for reasons such as injuries, eating disorders, pressure to win, politics and money, pushy parents, and abusive coaches. Their were some exagerrations and some repetition, however. Ryan mentioned that Kathy Johnson didn't begin menstruating until she retired from gymnastics at age 25 three times, and that Kristie Phillips left gymnastics unhappy and bulimic at age 16 at least two times. That was really the only part of the book that annoyed me. In 2000, an updated edition of the book was published, with new information about gymnastics and a new epilogue describing how the lives of the people described in the book had turned out. This book is a good book to read if you want to know what happens at the elite levels of gymnastics and figure skating.
Rating: 
Summary: Gone too far
Review: Read about this book to learn about yet another way in which the American drive to produce winners in athletics has gone too far. This author focuses on the abuse of young girls in gymnastics and skating; however, I see the problems in these sports as part of the bigger picture. Our culture places such a high value on athletics that no sport has gone unscathed. I myself was a competitive swimmer and saw various friends battle injuries, eating disorders, alcoholism, and other demons as direct or indirect consequences of the demands of our sport. Every once in a while, a great star is produced, and all the sacrifices seem to have been worth it. The truth is, however, that for every Michael Phelps there are thousands of casualties. It's hard to believe, though, that change is forthcoming- are we willing to preserve the health and well-being of children by freely accepting that by cutting back training schedules, etc., we will not produce the great athletes that we have been? I don't see it coming. As long as baseball players are making outrageous salaries and sports stars are revered as the heroes of today, we will continue to chase the dream and sacrifice literally anything and everything to be successful, as are the little girls in pretty boxes of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Shocking but a little exaggerated
Review: Although this is perhaps the first gymnastics book I have ever heard of, it took me the longest time to go ahead and read it simply because I didn't want to read something that was derogatory about gymnastics. But then I decided that if I was going to become a true fan on gymnastics, I might was well read about both sides of it, and I borrowed this book. Before I say anything else, let me just mentioned that this is a very interesting book. One night I planned on reading one chapter and ended up reading several. So if you do read this book, you will not be bored. But aside from that, this book tells you about gymnast's trouble with anorexia and bulimia, and how some girls starved themselves to make themselves look thin. I think if you're going to show the bad side to gymnastics, you have to show the good side as well. Yes, girls did starve themselves, and coaches did call them degrading names, but the author didn't tell about the girls who didn't starve themselves, about the coaches that treated their gymnasts firmly but with respect, and the rewards that came with that. This book was entirely one-sided, and it could leave you with a bad taste in the mouth if you're not careful. I also think that some of the comments about Bela Karolyi were exaggerated. Yes, he did call his gymnast's names, but I don't think he was as cruel as the book says. If he was, why did Kerri Strug go back to him when he came out of retirement? If he had really mistreated her, than she would have stayed as far away from him as possible. I found it hard to believe everything that this book said about him. This was the book that gave gymnasts so much trouble when it was published, and I can see why. Some of the stories will shock to no end, but if you really must know how it was, then read this book. If not,don't read it. It's as simple as that!
Rating:
Summary: EENY...MEENY..TEENY...WEENY...
Review: This is a terrific book on the state of woman's gymnastics and, to some extent, figure skating, though the primary focus of the book is on gymnastics. It focuses on the enormous demands made upon these young athletes by coaches, trainers, officials, and parents. Some of those demands are so unrealistic as to border on child abuse. There are athletes who are starve themselves, who develop life threatening eating disorders, who perform dangerous maneuvers in the quest for the gold, and who sometimes end up dead or devastatingly injured as a result. There is a lot of backstage dish in the book that is interesting. True life stories, some of which are heartbreaking, flesh out the allegations asserted by the author. The emphasis on being tiny and elfin has had enormous impact on elite female gymnasts. One sees the difference in just by looking comparatively at the women's U.S. Olympic gymnastic teams from 1976 and 1992. The photographs in the book best illustrate this and the comparison bespeaks volumes. Elite gymnastics went from being a woman's sport to a girl's sport, as the author has sagely noted, and the photographs corroborate that assertion. Moreover, while some measures have been taken, such as raising the age for Olympic competition in 2000 from fifteen to sixteen, at the same time the minimum level of difficulty has increased, making an already dangerous sport more dangerous. Remember, elite gymnastics is a sport fraught with the potential for devastating spinal cord injuries. The author recounts a number of these heartbreaking injuries and the circumstances under which they occurred, leaving the reader to ask oneself, "Just what were these coaches thinking? The pressure that some of these girls and young women endure is truly unbelievable. The demands upon them are often unrealistic, stunting not only their physical development, but their social and emotional development, as well. Competing with serious injuries, while taking potent drugs for the excruciating pain, is simply not commensurate with a sensible athletic regimen. Parents who are living their dreams through their children are often as dangerous as unscrupulous and unqualified coaches. Many force their children to compete merely to satisfy their own desires for personal glory, badgering and berating their offspring every step of the way. Coaches, likewise, have their own dreams. Everyone wants to produce Olympians, but at what cost? This is a an excellent book with a lot of information, both anecdotal and empirical. When purchasing the book, however, be sure to get the latest edition, as it has been updated with information on the state of gymnastics as of the year 2000. It also contains 24 pages of photographs, including 8 new pages for the updated edition.
Rating:
Summary: Important read!
Review: I was a competitive and professional figure skater and am now a coach. In this book, Joan Ryan says what needs to be said. It is true, as some other reviewers have mentioned, that not all skaters and gymnasts have negative experiences and it's wonderful to see when gymnasts and figure skaters do have positive, enriching experiences in their sports. However, this is the exact reason that it is so important for us to be aware of the inclinations within each sport that can produce devastatingly negative experiences, so that we can improve these conditions to produce positive experiences for more athletes. I know of many, many skaters who have suffered physical and psychological damage - eating disorders, low self-esteem, self mutilation, etc. - when their love and dedication to the sport was abused (probably unintentionally or unknowingly) by various influences in the figure skating world. It is helpful for all of us who love figure skating and/or gymnastics to face our sport's weaknesses and use criticism constructively. Problems come bearing solutions; the first step is to identify the problems. Ryan does an excellent job of this in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of time!
Review: What an extremely biased, unfiar, and untrue this book was! First of all, lets start with the title. It was so misleading. What about figure skaters? Ryan deffinetely had a fun time attacking women's gymnastics, but I found almost NOTHING on figure skating in that book. I can't believe she thinks she researched the subject well! Now, Ryan simply focused on the negatives. What's a research without a description of the negative side and the positive side? This woman is so unprofessional. You can't believe how many gymnasts earned full college scholarships because of their gymnastics, got straight A's at school because of the discipline, and made so many friendships when traveling abroad. Sure, there have been those odd cases were things just get out of hand...but, they are a MINORITY. More ballerinas have died from anorexia than gymnasts and skaters ever have. More soccer players have DIED playing soccer than gymnasts and skaters ever had. Just because this sports look a little more "dangerous" doesn't mean they actually are. Trust me, I'm saying all this from experience. After all, I am a gymnast myself. Let me tell you, I have a teammate who's BOTH a figure skater and a gymnast and can't think about anything negative about the two. Plus, I've got an elite teammate who's probably the most cheerful person inside and outside the gym. I want to add that I know many gymnasts who were interviewed for the book were EXTREMELY disappointed with how it turned out. They said things were taken out of context and that they love gymnastics more than anything. I wanted you to know that, Ryan. What a waste of time. Don't read this book. I am lucky I know and have lived the truth. Ryan, you are deffinetely wrong.
Rating:
Summary: how true how true...
Review: Having competed in the upper ranks of the fiqure skating world, I have seen much of what Ryan speaks about in this book. The only complaint I have is that there is very little about the skaters though we too go through quite a bit. I think it is great that somebody found the courage to write the facts and turn them loose on the public. True, there are other people in the world with eating disorders, as someone pointed out, but the major percentage difference between the general public and these athletes cannot go unnoticed. These sports, gymnastics more so, have a great impact on those #'s merely because there is a lot more pressure on these girls to maintain a weight and image. Celebraties don't get weighed in once a week and yelled at for gaining two pounds. Their "performance" doesn't "count on it". I stand by the advice given on the book, that anyone looking to start should read this book. Especially the injury issues.
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