Exhaustive and enlightening—don’t miss it.
Following the format she introduced in Women in Science (2016), author/illustrator Ignotofsky now celebrates women who broke barriers to change the sports world.
The collection represents a variety of figures from all over the globe born between 1881 and 1997, ranging from pioneering white figure skater Madge Syers and Tiny Broadwick, a white sky diver who advised the U.S. military on parachute safety during World War I, to beloved contemporaries such as white swimmer Katie Ledecky and black gymnast Simone Biles. Ignotofsky devotes one spread to each, with a brief profile on the recto and a stylized portrait containing inspirational quotes and facts on the verso. Readers will find stories that surprise and profoundly move them, for a number of these athletes not only battled societal challenges, but also personal hardship. African-American track star Wilma Rudolph overcame polio, segregation, and sexism. French-Canadian Chantal Petitclerc, paralyzed in youth, worked to set five Paralympic world records in wheelchair racing. Cricket player Mithali Raj risked familial displeasure to break records and traditional gender roles in India. Influential sports teams are also included, perhaps most notably the multicultural women of the 2016 Olympics’ Refugee Team, whose stamina proved stunning—first in life-threatening conditions, then in the sports arena. The collection is rounded out by brief introductions to other women athletes and pieces on muscle anatomy and pay and media statistics.
Exhaustive and enlightening—don’t miss it. (timeline, conclusion, sources, index.) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-60774-978-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
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PROFILES
One of the great pitchers in baseball history (and one of the most outspoken and disagreeable), Gibson recalls his storied career with the capable help of Wheeler (I Had a Hammer, not reviewed) and shows he's not done being ``difficult.'' A ferocious competitor who made his living pitching high and tight, Gibson had a reputation throughout his 17 years with the St. Louis Cardinals for being just as uncompromising and angry off the field, especially concerning racial matters. Gibson was raised in an Omaha, Nebr., housing project, where his older brother was hero, mentor, and coach. After college, Gibson, who claims that he was better at basketball than baseball, signed a contract with both the Cardinals and the Harlem Globetrotters, playing one year for the latter. He calls his first professional baseball manager, Johnny Keane, ``the closest thing to a saint that I came across in baseball.'' When Keane replaced Solly Hemus (whom Gibson despised) in 1961, it turned the Cardinals', and Gibson's, fortunes around. Known for his extraordinary performances in the postseason, Gibson had a World Series record of 7-2, with a 1.89 ERA and an incredible 92 strikeouts over 81 innings. He won 20 games in five different seasons and in 1968 posted a 1.12 ERA in 305 innings. Gibson offers some fun and insightful recollections of big games, friends, and teammates such as Tim McCarver, Joe Torre, and Bob Uecker, and legendary matchups with Juan Marichal (``the best pitcher of my generation''), Sandy Koufax, and Don Drysdale. Despite his Hall of Fame credentials, Gibson claims he's been ostracized from the game and hasn't held a baseball job since 1984. Though he grouses a lot about being slighted by major league baseball and rehashes all-too-familiar racial difficulties, it is refreshing to get the fiery Gibson's take on the grand old game. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) (First printing of 75,000; $75,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-670-84794-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
paper 0-8225-9684-9 Late bloomers will take heart in this tale of a classic underachiever who went on to make popular, record-breaking films. Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars series and other movies, just barely graduated from high school. As a youth, he dreamed of becoming a race car driver, but after being badly injured in a collision he began “filming cars instead of racing them.” Following a stint at the University of South California’s film school, Lucas, in his various capacities as writer, producer and director, piled up the series of successes for which he is known, and changed “the film industry by uniting entertainment, business and technology” in the process. The section on how Lucas got the ideas for Star Wars, and its subsequent incarnations—e.g., the first two drafts never mentioned “the Force,”—will fascinate fans and casual movie-goers alike. White is admiring, characterizing Lucas variously and vaguely as “complicated,” “intriguing,” “intelligent,” “humble,” and “intensely private.” That Lucas is driven is clear, but readers will close the book—which ends before the opening of The Phantom Menace in the spring of 1999—knowing more about his career than his soul. (photos, notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 12-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 2, 1999
ISBN: 0-8225-4975-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
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