Linda Soules Releases 'So You Want To Be A Stunt Performer,' a Kids' Career Guide to Stunts and Safety

Author Linda Soules has released So You Want To Be A Stunt Performer: A Kids' Guide to Stunts, Action Choreography, Safety Training, and the Fearless Performers Who Make Movie Magic Look Real, a 38-page children's nonfiction book for readers ages 10 to 14. The book is available now at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766244 (ISBN 978-1-972766-24-8). It explains how stunt performers train, how stunts are planned, and what a young person can do now to find out whether the career suits them. The title carries several 2026 honors, including two PenCraft Seasonal Book Awards and an NYC Big Book Award. It is part of Soules's So You Want To Be A... career-exploration series.

The book starts from a question most moviegoers never ask: what does it take to fall off a building for a living and walk away every time? Its answer is that the work depends on years of preparation, not recklessness.

Stunt performers are among the least visible professionals in film. When the work is done well, audiences see only the story and never think about the person who took the fall. Children who watch an action sequence and wonder how it was made have had few reliable, age-appropriate places to get the answer. Career books for young readers tend to cover familiar jobs such as doctor, teacher and firefighter. Specialized film crafts rarely get the same attention.

The topic also draws interest that outpaces the available material. Kids who play martial arts, gymnastics, diving, motorsports or other physical sports often have no picture of how those skills connect to a profession on a film set. They may also not know that the work is built on coordination with a larger crew. So You Want To Be A Stunt Performer is written for that audience. It treats young readers as capable of understanding physics, risk management and the demands of a physical career, and it avoids simplifying the material.

The book covers the disciplines a stunt performer must master: martial arts, gymnastics, precision driving, high falls, wire work, fire and water. Fight choreography is explained as a design problem. Moves are built across multiple combat styles so that every hit looks devastating on screen while no one is hurt. Readers learn why that planning matters and how rehearsal turns a sequence into something a team can repeat safely.

Other sections address the technical side of the work. The book describes how performers train in precision driving and motorcycle work at speeds that would be catastrophic without complete technical mastery. It explains how high falls are calculated so the physics of impact is never left to chance. It also shows how fire stunts are performed with a calm built on preparation. The book is illustrated, and it draws on research into the science of controlled danger, the physical and mental demands of the profession, and the real jobs and career steps that lead from training to the set.

A stunt is never a solo act, and the book spends time on the people around the performer. Coordinators, riggers, safety specialists and camera operators work together so that a three-second moment in a film is planned and carried out precisely. Young readers see that the career includes roles beyond the person on camera, and that communication and trust are as important as athletic ability.

The book also places the profession in history. It introduces the legendary performers who shaped the action filmmaking audiences know today, giving readers a sense of how the craft developed. A closing section turns practical. It outlines the sports, training and mindset a young person can start building now to see whether stunt work might become their path.

Soules's approach differs from much children's career content in its candor. The book states plainly what the work costs and what it demands, on the premise that kids with big ambitions deserve answers of matching size. It does not present the profession as pure spectacle. It presents it as a discipline built on repetition, problem-solving and managed risk. It also frames the greatest compliment a stunt performer can receive as an audience that never once thinks about them.

The book belongs to a long-running series with a consistent editorial rule: never talk down to kids. Each title pulls back the curtain on one real career, including its rewards, its difficulties and the path to get there. That consistency lets the series work as a catalog of careers instead of a set of one-off novelty books.

"Kids can handle the real story. Stunt work is preparation, physics, and teamwork, and young readers deserve to know what the job costs and what it demands," said Linda Soules, author.

The book is aimed first at readers ages 10 to 14 who are curious about how films are made, especially those already active in martial arts, gymnastics, swimming, cycling, motorsports or similar sports. For these readers, it connects familiar activities to a specific professional outcome and names the training areas that stunt work draws on. It can also serve as a starting point for a conversation about how any skilled career is built over time.

Parents, teachers and librarians are a second audience. The book fits classroom units on careers, physics and film, and it suits library collections of children's nonfiction. Because it covers safety training and risk management directly, it offers adults a way to discuss the difference between a calculated, professionally managed stunt and the kind of risk-taking children should never attempt on their own. Readers who simply enjoy action movies will find a behind-the-scenes look at how the impossible is made to look real.

The book has drawn recognition in several 2026 programs. It is a Finalist in the Literary Global Children's Book Awards in the Adventure and Sports categories. It won two PenCraft Seasonal Book Awards, for Best Children's Concept Book and for Best Book for Children (Grades 4–6). It also won an NYC Big Book Award in the Educational Series (Career) category. The wider So You Want To Be A... series has received a Grand Prize at the 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and a Silver Award in Children's Nonfiction at the 2026 CIPA EVVY Book Awards.

So You Want To Be A Stunt Performer is available through the book's listing at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766244. The listing carries the full title and subtitle, the ISBN 978-1-972766-24-8, and the 38-page length. Current pricing, available formats and shipping options are shown on that page and may change, so readers and buyers should check the listing directly. Educators and librarians who want to add the title to a collection can use the ISBN when ordering through their usual channels.

The stunt performer title is one entry in a series that Soules envisions spanning more than 180 books in total. More than 60 have been published so far, and new releases continue on a steady cadence. Subjects range from astronauts and marine biologists to magicians, stunt performers and roller coaster designers. The plan is to cover a broad range of real careers, including ones children rarely see described in print, so that each reader has a chance to find a path that matches their curiosity. Further titles will follow the same format of researched, respectful nonfiction for ages 10 to 14 and beyond.

About Linda Soules: Linda Soules is the author and creator of the So You Want To Be A... series, a growing collection of career-exploration books for readers ages 10–14 and beyond. The series is envisioned to span more than 180 titles, with over 60 published to date. Her philosophy is that young readers are smarter, more curious and more capable than the publishing world often credits, and that they deserve books that respect their intelligence while sparking real enthusiasm. Each title explains a real career, including its joys, its challenges and the path to get there. Learn more about So You Want To Be A Stunt Performer at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766244.