Like most DK books, this one is full of beautiful photographs. It follows five young girls -- Jessica, Hannah, Tyra, Tiggy & Molly -- from their first days at the gym, hopping, running, and stretching, through their training, culminating with a competitive meet where each of the girls win medals. Throughout, the girls are having fun and learning proper techniques.
The pictures are very nice, but the text is equally important and quite well-written. The book defines all of the terms and stunts depicted. It explains the importance of different fundamental moves, gives some instruction of how to learn the moves (how to work up to full front splits and box splits, how to do a forward roll and a cartwheel). The little girls are adorable, and excel in different areas. There are many photographs with captions that emphasize the need for practice and perseverance -- like "I'm going to keep on trying!" and "I`m trying hard not to wobble" (while walking on the balance beam).
Each piece of apparatus used in competitive gymnastics is shown. It also features the boys events, which is not always the case with gymnastics books.
Overall, this is an inspiring picture book for young girls and beginners. There's nothing too complicated here -- mostly simple stunts that are within reach of a beginner. Because it is at the beginner level, it's not as fascinating as something with more advanced stunts. My five-year-old daughter enjoys looking at all of the "cute little girls" doing stunts, but she`s not mesmerized or compelled to look the book time and time again like she is of photographs of more complicated and intriguing moves, or of gymnasts like Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson rather than amateur six year olds. Nonetheless, the book is still quite well done.
Highly recommended for the young novice gymnast or anyone wishing to learn a bit more about the basics of gymnastics.