The Night Olympic Team
Fighting to Keep Drugs Out of the Games
"I wrote The Night Olympic Team to show young readers science in action and how difficult work was accomplished only because key people helped one another."
An adventure story
that happens to be about scientists
who happen to be real people.
Book description
The Night Olympic Team takes readers behind the scenes at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to discover how lab scientists, led by Dr. Don Catlin, caught athletes on performance-enhancing drugs, which are prohibited because using them is cheating. Teachers can use the book in the classroom to spark discussions of scientific and ethical issues in doping in sports. The clear language makes it an easy crash course in anti-doping basics for adults.
Nonfiction
Hardcover, 56 pages.
Full-color photographs, glossary, resources, index.
Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
ISBN-10: 1-59078-566-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-59078-566-9
E-book: Kindle Edition, 76 KB
Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
ASIN: B001CRPH30
Click here to preview or buy the Kindle book.
Audiobook
Publisher: Recorded Books
Buy the audiobook:
A Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Top 40
Young Adult Books Pick
A California Readers’ selection
for the Middle School California Collection
To read the School Library Journal interview, click here.
Praise from Reviewers
"Outstanding." - Library Media Connection
"A must-read." --Los Angeles Times
"[A] detective story." --Los Angeles Magazine
"Readers will certainly understand one of the more complicated subtexts of the upcoming Olympics much better after spending some time with this… readable offering.” --Kirkus Reviews
“Fair-minded and kid-friendly.” --School Library Journal
"Fascinating. A rich picture of [the] work to root out doping in sport." --fasterskier.com
"...A scientific thriller." --Scripps News
"A unique perspective." --LightTheTorch.net
"Great nonfiction for all ages. As interesting and enjoyable as a good novel."
--Linda, Emerson School (for gifted K-8 education) Librarian, Ann Arbor, Michigan
"Timely and informative." —Reviewers of Young Adult Literature
"A true-life adventure story." --Caroline Arnold
Author of 30 Outstanding Science Trade Books - Children’s Book Council and National Science Teachers’ Association (CBC/NSTA)
"Well done." --Jim Ferstle, Sports Writer
Sample pages
Front flap:
Buy the book
From...
For teachers
Watch a video, Be an Olympic detective, in which the author shows how scientists identify drugs, then lets viewers--your students--solve a forensic mystery themselves.
To watch the detective video, click on : Part 1 of 3
At schools that use the Accelerated Reader program, students pick Accelerated Reader books and read them at their own pace, take a quiz, and teachers get immediate feedback on individual students' reading progress. To find The Night Olympic Team, Quiz No. 121674, click here.
Activities: to see the PDF, click here.
Author interview
by The School Library Journal: click here.
© 2020 Caroline Hatton
Olympic Flame photo credit: U.S. Navy