INDELIBLE ANN

If folks in the small Texas town where Gov. Ann Richards spent her childhood thought little Dorothy Ann Willis was good at climbing trees and baiting a trotline, and if her high school classmates in Waco thought she was a “speech and debate team marvel”—well, “…JUST WAIT, you’ll see.”

This quirky biography with a homespun voice takes a look at the life and career of the 45th governor of the Lone Star State. As a teenager, she traveled to Washington, D.C., and came back understanding “the importance of civic duty.” She couldn’t be stopped. “There were people to meet and problems that needed fixing.” As a county commissioner, she “built a bridge between the predictable past and the limitless future.” When elected state treasurer, she hired “staff that reflected the folks around her.” With her booming voice and her “high-cotton” hair, Richards had big ideas for herself and her state. When people thought she should be a candidate to run for president, she said there was “still work to be done in Texas”—and did it. Well-organized and colorfully written, the book presents Richards at her highest and lowest, taking care to show how its subject became the formidable progressive and inclusive politician she was. Bright, bold illustrations chock-full of period detail underscore this with depictions of the vigorously multicultural staff and state this White woman helmed. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 32.4% of actual size.)

An undeniably indelible woman inspiring readers to reach their own heights.