Kicking Up Dirt
By: Ashley Fiolek and Caroline Ryder
Ashley Fiolek
Ashley Fiolek is a professional Motocross rider, and has one the American Women's Motocross Championship twice, but she isn't just any ordinary motocross rider. Ashley was born profoundly deaf, a handicap that makes everyday life difficult. Later on in her life Ashley's parents introduced her to the world of dirt bikes, which helped her escape the silence in her head and connect with others that shared her passion. Fiolek has never believed that her disability should stand in the way of her dreams, nor has she allowed her gender to limit her career. With little confidence and a lot of determination, Ashley has led herself to a whole new world.
Conflict
All throughout the book it explains Ashley's struggles cause of her disability but also how she got passed her struggles and what she did to stay determined and confident. Motocross is a sport that really involves hearing for example, switching gears on your dirt bike really involves listening to the engine reach its highest potential before it screams for the clutch to be applied in order to switch gears. Ashley had to learn how to feel for that purr of the engine in able to know when to switch gears. With a little help from her dad she got the hang of it and it later on led her to win 2 championships. Ashley's rare disability knocked her to the ground many times but every time it did she got right back up and gave it another shot, until she accomplished her goal. This book gives great examples of how to accomplish anything you put your mind to.
Who My Audience Is
The particular audience that I think is necessary for this book is young adults mainly of the high school age or even people who love riding dirt bikes. The reason I recommend this book to that age group is that it does have some strong language and it can be hard to understand at some times. Overall if you are the kind of person that loves motivational books or even action sports like motocross then this is defiantly the book for you, it is loaded with determination and motivational words.
Main Characters
The main characters are
Ashley Fiolek
Little brother Kicker
Roni and Jim Fiolek.