"Gold Medal Summer," "Winning Team" and "Balancing Act" Women's gymnastics has long been one of the most enthralling Olympic sports. The style and panache of those airtight routines; the sheer thrill of watching a contestant fearlessly catapult herself into space, twisting wildly. That most of the athletes are powerhouse teenage girls (the Olympics minimum age is 16) makes the spectacle even more captivating, and not just because they're young and typically photogenic. In our short-­attention-span era, we're both inspired and intrigued by the athletes" intense discipline and singular focus. The dark side of the gymnasium holds its own fascination, of course. See: concerns about injuries to still-­growing girls; overbearing coaches; delayed puberty; the dangers of eating disorders; and the rest. So it makes sense that as the Summer Olympic Games loom and the third season of "Make It or Break It," a drama about teenage London-bound gymnasts, appears on ABC Family, a handful of ­middle-grade books about the sport have surfaced. Synchronicity aside, a gymnast's training ground would seem an obvious setting in which to explore and tease out the problems so many girls face during middle school: the pressure to be the best; the search to find oneself while fitting in with teammates; the obsession over weight and body image; the overly involved momagers and the quick-to-backstab-competitive frenemies. The four-book Go-for-Gold series, written by the 1996 Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu and Alicia Thompson, and "Gold Medal Summer" by Donna Freitas ("This Gorgeous Game," "The Possibilities of Sainthood") do just that, while also highlighting issues particular to girls" gymnastics, like the incredible demands of a training schedule and the denial of a life outside the gym. Each book in the Go-for-Gold series revolves around a team in Austin, Tex. In "Winning Team," the first novel, the Ohio transplant Britt Morgan, a compact and aggressive home-schooled firecracker, attempts to win over her new teammates: insecure Jessie; quiet, hardworking Noelle; and haughty Christina. Time and time again, Britt's good intentions go awry in cringe-inducing ways, with pranks that hopelessly backfire and over­confident pronouncements that come off as hurtful mean-girling. A show-off who doesn't realize that her spotlight-hogging is a major faux pas among peers, Britt is also a lonely newcomer desperate for approval. To be fully accepted by the team, she realizes, she has to earn their trust. Noelle Onesti (a nod to the Olympic legend Nadia Comaneci's hometown, Onesti, Romania?) is the voice of the series's second book, "Balancing Act." Noelle's aloof exterior, we discover when she is given her own story, hides the intense family pressure she's under, as her Romanian immigrant parents struggle to find the money to send her to Nationals. Meanwhile, Noelle is preoccupied by her crush on a much older boy and is worried about her brother's late-night sneaking out. Are years of perfecting her double tuck and her family's significant financial sacrifices for naught if she can't afford the plane ticket to Nationals? For a sport that's all about pizazz and personality, the staid prose and clunky story lines in the Go-for-Gold series are disappointing. While both books offer a glimpse inside this exclusive world, along with important lessons about the payoffs of hard work, discipline and team cooperation, those who aren't interested in descriptions of elaborate routines ("She did a flawless Onodi to twist herself into a forward-facing position"; "We would be expected to stick three beam dismounts and to do five first and second halves on bars") might be better served learning those lessons elsewhere. "Gold Medal Summer" more successfully reflects the competitive gymnast's spunk, thanks to Donna Freitas's flashier style and relatable protagonist, 13-year-old Joey Jordan. Used to paling in comparison with her best friend, Joey has a real chance to win at Regionals, thanks to Alex's newfound - and distracting - romance. For these girls, the rule is no boys allowed. After watching her sister Julia retire from gymnastics, exhausted and injured, at 16, Joey's parents, especially her bohemian painter mother, are less than supportive of Joey's quest. In a counterintuitive twist, they're more hopeful that she'll dump gymnastics for a boy she likes than they are that she'll win Regionals. Even given the magic of gymnastics and the girls" sense of accomplishment, the reader wonders whether the sacrifice the sport entails is worth it. In all three of these novels, first love is forsaken for the commitment; Joey tells her crush repeatedly that she can't have him in her life lest she lose focus. This could be a positive message - don't ditch your passion for a boy! - but after reading the umpteenth demanding-coach scene, it's easy to feel that these girls are trapped in their sport, excelling in one area while giving up the natural explorations that define adolescence. Whitney Joiner is a co-author of "The Drama Years," a book for parents of middle school children.