9This title explains the history of roller coasters and the exciting and stomach-churning rides they are today. Readers will learn that roller coaster history began in Russia with giant ice slides called "Russian mountains." Today coasters feature extreme speeds, twists, flips, and 100-foot drops. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo Kids Jumbo is an imprint of Abdo Kids, a division of ABDO.