Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters

Joan Ryan

Feb 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya

About this audiobook

Welcome to the world of women's gymnastics and figure skating-the real world that happens away from the cameras, at the training camps and in the private lives of these talented teenage competitors. From starvation diets and debilitating injuries to the brutal tactics of tyrannical gymnastics guru Bela Károlyi, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes portrays the horrors endured by girls at the hands of their coaches and sometimes their own families-and is now updated with a new introduction and foreword that address the sexual abuse scandal perpetrated by USA Gymnastics national team doctor, Larry Nassar. This groundbreaking book shows how a longstanding culture of abuse made young gymnasts perfect targets for a sexual predator, and continues to plead for sanity, safety, and an end to our national obsession: winning at any cost.

About the author

Joan Ryan is an award-winning journalist and the author of four books. Throughout her career, Ryan has been awarded thirteen Associated Press Sports Editors awards, the National Headliner Award, the Women's Sports Foundation's Journalism Award and the Fabulous Feminist Award from the San Francisco chapter of NOW.

Jennifer Jill Araya has been listening to audiobooks since she was a young child, and the fact that she now gets to narrate audiobooks for a living is a dream come true. When she's not narrating, Jennifer can be found hiking, biking, running, or exploring her home city of Cincinnati with her husband and their two children.