Fighting to Keep Drugs Out of the Games
"I wrote this book to show young readers science in action and how difficult work was accomplished only because key people helped one another."
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 catch 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 (May 2008)
ISBN-10: 1-59078-566-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-59078-566-9
E-book: Kindle Edition, 76 KB
Publisher: Boyds Mills Press (May 2008)
ASIN: B001CRPH30
Read the School Library Journal Interview
Praise from Reviewers:
"A must-read on doping...Caroline Hatton's 'The Night Olympic Team' is an essential in-depth look at drug cheating in sports."--Philip Hersh
Special to the Los Angeles Times
"[A] detective story…packed with convincing reasons to compete clean."
--Robert Ito
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 (Read more…)
“Hatton’s approach to the issues raised by the use of performance-enhancing drugs is fair-minded and kid-friendly.”
--School Library Journal (Read more…)
"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) (Read more...)
"Well done."
-- Jim Ferstle
Freelance writer (Read more...)
Look Inside The Night Olympic Team:
Click here to view inside the book.
Buy the Book:
Click on a bookseller
| Once Upon a Story Books |
Amazon |
| Skylight Books |
Barnes & Noble |
Look Inside the E-Book and Buy it:
Click here to preview the Kindle book and buy it.For Teachers:
The Night Olympic Team is an Accelerated Reader Book. The quiz is available from Renaissance Learning.Video: Introduction to Sports Doping Control (2 min 20 sec)
Informational video made by Agilent Technologies for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Caroline K. Hatton, Ph.D. (UCLA Olympic Lab consultant at the time) and Stuart P. Cram, Ph.D. (Agilent Technologies) appear in it.
Curriculum ties to frameworks
- Grade 5
- Middle School
- High School
Teachers Tool Kit:
ages 10-12
- The Spirit of Sport
- Doping and the Spirit of Sport
by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
More resources at the page Against Drugs in Sports
Frequently Asked Questions (Read the answers.)
How long did it take to publish The Night Olympic Team?
How does the EPO (blood booster) test work?
Were the three 2002 Olympics cases described in the book also based on blood tests, in addition to urine tests?
The Night Olympic Team describes how clean athlete Beckie Scott got bumped up in the ranking when dopers were disqualified. Were other athletes bumped up for the same reason?
Can sports ever be drug-free?
For answers to the following questions and more, see the School Library Journal interview.
What was it like being a member of the Night Olympic Team?
How stressful was it to work under such a tight deadline?
Tell us about the night your team discovered NESP in an athlete’s urine.
Did you feel bad about someone’s career being ruined?
For the answer to the following question, see the interview by Tina Nichols Coury.
Will you be going to the Summer Olympics in Beijing? If not, will an independent service or the Chinese government do drug testing?
References Used to Write the Book:
available upon request
Click on other titles by Caroline Hatton:
Where Is My Puppy?
Surprise Moon
A Pet for Grandma
Vero and Philippe