Maggie Vaults Over the Moon author Grant Overstake is this week’s featured guest on Keyhole Conversations, an interview program especially for Kansas-based writers and authors.
The interview by hostess Bonnie Eaton and director/producer Hazel Hart 
took place in advance of the author’s reading and book signing event, to be held Thursday, April 11th, at 7 p.m., at Wichita’s premier bookseller, Watermark Books & Cafe. Continue Reading →
Maggie Vaults Over the Moon has found a place on the bookshelves of Kansas history.
The Kansas-based teen sports novel has been placed among the Kansas Reference books in the Wulfmeyer Special Collections (Lower Floor) of the Wichita Public Library. The special permanent collection consists of books about Kansas, or books by Kansas authors, including both fiction and non-fiction.
The collection features books on pioneers and cowboys, Kansas trail and railroad development, aviation history, agricultural history, and other subjects that shaped Kansas.
And, now, the collection includes the inspiring story of a gutsy farm girl from Grain Valley, Kansas, who overcomes great difficulties through the daring sport of pole-vaulting. Continue Reading →
“It’s one of the most pure and wholesome young adult books I’ve ever read.” — Shannon Clark
You know that saying — “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well, it applies to this book. Most definitely! Grant Overstake, the author, contacted me about reading his book and reviewing it on my blog. I am so glad I did.
English teacher and Coach Shannon Clark is also a Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, promoting health, life and fitness for girls of all ages.
It’s a young adult book that’s appropriate for young adults as well as 4th and up. When do you ever find a young adult book like that? Some words that would best describe it would be- PURE, WHOLESOME, GENUINE -those can also describe Maggie, the main character.
Not an inappropriate word throughout the entire book. No inappropriate content either. I mean that’s a hard find in today’s world! It’s one of the most pure and wholesome young adult books I’ve ever read. Continue Reading →
Vaulters from Bartolina Athletics participated in the Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada.
If you’re ever fortunate enough to travel waaay down to southeast Louisiana, deep into Cajun Country, you’ll find one of the most beautiful places on the entire planet to pole vault.
Former Olympian and Coach Erica Bartolina ‘connected’ with heroine Maggie Steele.
Nestled under mossy trees, about 45 miles north of New Orleans and 45 miles east of Baton Rouge, lies the awesome training facility of Bartolina Athletics. Here boys and girls of all ages and abilities can be found on the runway, day and night, launching themselves to greater and greater heights.
Bartolina vaulters can be found on the runway, day and night.
The vaulters at Bartolina Athletics are taking the same flight path as their coach, Erica, who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Her love and knowledge of the event motivates them to achieve their goals and learn positive life lessons along the way.
And, her athletes are also following the same trajectory as the fictional heroine Maggie Steele in Maggie Vaults Over the Moon.
The new teen sports novel by Grant Overstake has been widely endorsed by pole-vaulters for its realistic depiction of the world’s greatest sport; and by others who identify with the heroine’s courageous struggle. Kirkus Reviews calls Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, “A fine novel about perseverance in sports and in life.”
Bartolina’s Courtney Munkres loves ‘Maggie’
Along with sharing her own remarkable story, Coach Bartolina recently used the book’s heroine to help inspire her vaulters. Both Bartolina, in real life, and Steele, as a fictional character, overcame great adversity as they vaulted themselves over the moon. Continue Reading →
Coach Kimbrook Tennal shown coaching his vaulters at Centralia (Kan.) High.
The fictional town of Grain Valley, Kan., paints an authentic picture of Midwest farm towns and the people who live there; including down-to-earth, everyday-heroes like Kimbrook Tennal, assistant track coach at Centralia High School, in Centralia, Kan., (Pop. 512).
Coach Kimbrook Tennal
Located in extreme northeast Kansas, Centralia is best known for producing NFL star John Riggins, who was born in Seneca and attended Centralia High. Riggins went on to play for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins, and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In the new teen sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, author Grant Overstake retells the story of another amazing small-town athlete, Maggie Steele, a gutsy farm girl who pours her broken heart into the daring sport of pole-vaulting. The story climaxes at the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships, the largest track meet in the nation, held at Wichita State University‘s Cessna Stadium.
Coach Tennal wrote the author to say Maggie brought back his own golden moments at Cessna Stadium, because he and his wife, Kim, are the parents of three Kansas track and field champions!
“I loved the book and I wish I had written it,” he wrote. “I consider that about as high a compliment on the book as I can make.” Continue Reading →
Nick Meyer has committed to vault for KU next season. (Photo by Varsity Kansas).
Congratulations to the University of Kansas for winning the intense recruiting battle for one of the top pole-vaulters in the nation, defending Kansas State Class 5A Champion Nick Meyer, a senior at Bishop Carroll in Wichita.
Coached by one of the nation’s top prep vault coaches, Denis Fraizer, Meyer soared into the No. 5 spot on the Kansas all-time boys’ pole vault list last spring, clearing 16-feet, 7-inches, and is primed to go even higher this coming outdoor season.
He joins a program with a legacy of producing some of the best pole-vaulters in the world, including Jordan Scott, Scott Huffman, and Jeff Buckingham.
He will be coached by Tom Hays, the 2011 National Collegiate Pole Vault Coach of the Year.
“Nick Meyer is a young man with unlimited potential, a champion’s personality, and Olympic-sized dreams,” said author Grant Overstake, who himself competed in the decathlon at KU. “I foresee that as he continues his journey upward, with great coaching, hard work, and perseverance, the whole world will be watching him vaulting over the moon at the Olympic Games.”
Meyer also happens to be a big fan of Maggie Steele, the heroine in Overstake’s Kansas-based teen sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon.
Congratulations, Nick!
Future Kansas Jayhawk Nick Meyer.
Sport Psychologist Adrienne Langelier, M.A., has posted a professional and insightful review of Maggie on her award-winning blog, Adrienne Langelier Racing.
Adrienne Langelier
Adrienne provides sport psychology consultation, general psychotherapy, and skills coaching for adults and students. She also regularly conducts workshops with athletes and coaches of all sports and levels; including those at the collegiate, professional and elite levels.
Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is vaulting onto library bookshelves everywhere, including the beautiful public library in Mishawaka, Indiana!
Join the campaign to help Maggie vault into libraries around the world.
Our goal is to have Maggie available in every public and school library, so please retweet this post and send it to your local librarians, too.
Ask them to add this inspirational new teen novel to their bookshelves and be sure to let us know when they say “Yes!” so we can feature their library’s photo on our blog.
“A fine young adult novel about perseverance in sports and in life.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS
Order at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indie Bound, and Watermark Books.
The Kansas State Track and Field Championships is the largest track meet in the nation, with over 3,000 athletes and 20,000-plus spectators.
Longtime track and field official Chris Ellis is well known in the Sunflower State for his dedication to the sport of high school and collegiate pole-vaulting, especially in his role as the tireless head official at the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships, the largest track and field meet in the nation, which includes two whole days of boys’ and girls’ vault competitions in all classifications.
We were delighted to read his new review of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon on Amazon.com:
“As the head pole vault official at the Kansas State High School Track & Field Championships since 1991, I have seen many great competitions and many many great competitors compete at this amazing event. However, after so many years of officiating the competition, not to mention the 3 years I competed in the event, my passion lost some of its intensity. Maggie Vaults Over the Moon reignited my passion for this 2 day extravaganza . I remember the first time I walked into Cessna Stadium as a young track athlete – WOW – I was speechless. I will rekindle that feeling this year and for many years to come thanks to Maggie!!” — Chris Ellis
The 102nd annual State Meet will be held May 24-25, 2013, at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.
How It’s Made recently produced a super-cool video segment showing how fiberglass vaulting poles are manufactured at Gill Athletics, 
the largest producer of track and field equipment in the world, including poles like the one used by heroine Maggie Steele in the new teen sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon.
The ‘Mean Green’ Skypole, made by Gill Athletics, used by Maggie Steele in the inspiring new sports novel, “Maggie Vaults Over the Moon.”
It’s no accident that the cover of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon depicts the daring athlete soaring skyward on a lime green Skypole. “We wanted the vaulting segments to be as realistic as possible,” said author Grant Overstake. “So it was a must for Maggie to use a Skypole to pursue the vault of her dreams.”
Gill Athletics was delighted to see a wholesome character like Maggie soaring on a Skypole, because it’s the go-to pole for real-life champions, too.
“Gill Athletics is proud to play even a small role in the telling of Maggie’s story,” said Mike Cunningham, National Sales Manager. “The ‘Mean Green’ Skypole has become one of the most popular vaulting poles in high school history; so it is special to see it recognized on the cover of a special book such as Maggie Vaults Over The Moon!“
Order your copy of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon!
