How long does it take to read Little Girls in Pretty Boxes?
the making and breaking of elite gymnasts and figure skaters
Joan Ryan
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes by Joan Ryan takes about 4 hours 27 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 4 hours 27 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1995. 243 pages, about 66,825 words.
9 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 7 hours 26 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 4 hours 27 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 47 minutes |
The page count is the median across 4 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
With sports as our national fairy tale, we have come to worship the tiny gymnasts and sequined skaters who appear on the landscape as storybook princesses with their poise and beauty, agility and grace. But the truth behind the making of elite women athletes reveals a grim national trend far less magical than what these images project. All too often behind the pigtails and mascara is a trail of abuse from parents, coaches, and federation officials - the very people charged with protecting these young athletes. Here are the heartbreaking stories of the countless girls who have stumbled along the way, broken by pressure, humiliation, and an outdated cultural ideal of femininity that has shaped both gymnastics and figure skating and driven their young athletes beyond the breaking point. Joan Ryan documents in harrowing and explicit detail the preponderance of eating disorders, weakened bones, stunted growth, debilitating injuries, and damaged psyches that are often the result of intensive training.
Subjects: Gymnastics for girls, Moral and ethical aspects of Sports, Sports, Women athletes, Abuse of, Skating
