Deborah Hopkinson

Children's & YAPicture Book

Waiting for nightfall

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

It’s a rare and happy occurrence when two legends in children’s literature combine their creative talents. Patricia MacLachlan, who won the Newbery Medal for her lyrical novel Sarah, Plain and Tall, and Caldecott and Newbery medalist Tomie dePaola,  author and illustrator of many classics including Strega Nona, team up for a sweet, lyrical bedtime story about animals and insects preparing for bed. The human characters are the mime Pierrot and his child, who venture out to watch night fall—and to wait for the moon to appear.

And what a gorgeous, lovely evening it is. DePaola’s acrylic paintings feature a calm, peaceful palette, replete with gentle, robin’s-egg blues and soft greens. As the sky deepens and darkens, the text color changes from black to white.

MacLachlan’s rhyming text is spare, leaving lots of space for the paintings to work their magic as the two humans, both dressed in white, venture outside to gaze at the sky.

“‘The moon’s almost here,’
Clucks plump mother hen.
Chicks settle under her,
Safe in their pen.”

Pierrot and the little child also visit a duck family, cows, horses and a robin singing her babies back to the nest before they welcome a vibrant full moon, which nearly fills one entire page. The story ends with Pierrot holding the sleeping child. And no doubt, young readers in laps will also be drifting off, comforted by this simple, enchanting lullaby of a book.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is A Bandit's Tale.

It’s a rare and happy occurrence when two legends in children’s literature combine their creative talents. Patricia MacLachlan, who won the Newbery Medal for her lyrical novel Sarah, Plain and Tall, and Caldecott and Newbery medalist Tomie dePaola,  author and illustrator of many classics including Strega Nona, team up for a sweet, lyrical bedtime story about animals and insects preparing for bed. The human characters are the mime Pierrot and his child, who venture out to watch night fall—and to wait for the moon to appear.

NonfictionLiterature

The inspiration behind a classic novel

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

As the old saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. And the two often intertwine, as we learn in Lesley M.M. Blume’s mesmerizing account of the young Ernest Hemingway in Paris in the 1920s as he prepares to write his breakout debut novel, The Sun Also Rises. 

While many readers are familiar with Hemingway among the expats and his post-World War I modernist classic, Blume opens up the story in surprising new ways. She was inspired to dig into this project after seeing a photograph of Hemingway with the main cast of characters who would later appear in the novel—what some called a barely fictionalized account of a trip by a group of friends to Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls. In Everybody Behaves Badly we meet femme fatale Lady Duff Twysden, inspiration for Lady Brett Ashley, Harold Loeb (Robert Cohn), Donald Ogden Stewart (Bill Gorton) and Patrick Guthrie (Mike Campbell). She describes not only their real-life intrigues but also the impact that the novel had on their later lives. 

Blume’s account also probes Hemingway’s first marriage and its dissolution and his larger-than-life literary ambitions. Among the most fascinating aspects of Everybody Behaves Badly are the insights into the editing, publishing and marketing of The Sun Also Rises. Here, we see the friendship of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway in action and their mutual dedication to craft. 

Blume’s book is nonfiction, impeccably documented. Yet, like Hemingway’s fictional masterpiece, it reminds us that real life can inspire great stories and writing.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

As the old saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. And the two often intertwine, as we learn in Lesley M.M. Blume’s mesmerizing account of the young Ernest Hemingway in Paris in the 1920s as he prepares to write his breakout debut novel, The Sun Also Rises.
NonfictionHistory

Codebreakers on the invisible front lines

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

The role of codes and codebreakers in World War II has captured public attention recently in The Imitation Game, the biopic about Alan Turing, and the BBC’s miniseries, “The Bletchley Circle.” Bestselling author Max Hastings notes in his introduction to The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945 that his book doesn’t aspire to be a comprehensive narrative of intelligence efforts throughout World War II. Yet he manages to create something even more interesting—a fast-paced narrative that provides rich historical context and leaves readers with a thorough appreciation of the complexities of this mesmerizing subject matter.

Hastings begins by setting the stage for the exploration of the elements of this secret war, reminding readers that many of the conflict’s outcomes were “profoundly influenced by a host of men and women who never fired a shot.” This “struggle for knowledge” was, Hastings tells us, unceasing. Taking a chronological approach, Hastings explores not only the context of the major intelligence efforts, both Allied and Axis, but also brings to life some of the fascinating human stories of those who engaged in spying, information gathering, and code-breaking.

In addition to historical figures like Turing, who has become more widely known in recent years, Hastings introduces a host of characters nearly unknown today, including Ronald Seth, one of the few British agents “turned” by the Germans. He also describes German intelligence efforts, providing a cogent analysis for the Nazis’ failure to match Allied successes in code-making and in code-breaking.

This impeccably researched account will be eagerly embraced by those familiar with WWII history. But readers new to the topic shouldn’t be put off by the size of this hefty volume. Hastings understands that we’re all thrilled by a good spy story, and in this masterful, gripping narrative, he delivers just that.

The role of codes and codebreakers in World War II has captured public attention recently in The Imitation Game, the biopic about Alan Turing, and the BBC’s miniseries, “The Bletchley Circle.” Bestselling author Max Hastings notes in his introduction to The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945 that his book doesn’t aspire to be a comprehensive narrative of intelligence efforts throughout World War II. Yet he manages to create something even more interesting—a fast-paced narrative that provides rich historical context and leaves readers with a thorough appreciation of the complexities of this mesmerizing subject matter.
NonfictionHistory

The bravery of World War II’s civilian merchant mariners

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

The genesis of journalist William Geroux’s new book about U.S. Navy Merchant Marine sailors and their families in World War II is almost as fascinating as the book itself. Geroux first came upon the idea 25 years ago, while covering a forum in which men shared memories of watching merchant ships—targets of German U-boat attacks—explode off the coast of Virginia.

Intrigued, the reporter began to research Mathews County, Virginia, which sent one of the largest concentrations of civilian merchant mariners into treacherous Atlantic waters during the war. The result is The Mathews Men, a gripping, nearly lost story of World War II (“Hurry,” the author was told, while gathering names of possible interviewees) and a moving portrayal of family and community.

Geroux brings a reporter’s keen eye for detail and natural flair for storytelling to his account, which was informed by interviews with surviving members of the Hodges family, which sent seven sons to the Merchant Marine. We meet Captain Jesse Hodges and his wife, Henny, who somehow managed to bear 14 children and run a 60-acre farm while Jesse was absent for long stretches at sea.

After Pearl Harbor, conducting “unrestricted submarine warfare” meant that Japanese shipping was a major target for U.S. submarines in the Pacific. Likewise, American merchant ships carrying critical war supplies were fair game for German U-boat captains in the Atlantic. Geroux brings readers onto ships and into lifeboats to experience U-boat attacks and harrowing survival stories. In his appendix, he lists the 43 ships sunk or damaged by the Germans. Along with the participants, readers experience both the terror at sea and the agonizing tension of families who waited for loved ones to return.

The 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor will occur in December, a reminder that the last survivors of the Greatest Generation will not be with us much longer. Thankfully, Geroux’s dedication and curiosity came in time to bring readers the story of the courageous seamen from Mathews County.

 

This article was originally published in the May 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The genesis of journalist William Geroux’s new book about U.S. Navy Merchant Marine sailors and their families in World War II is almost as fascinating as the book itself. Geroux first came upon the idea 25 years ago, while covering a forum in which men shared memories of watching merchant ships—targets of German U-boat attacks—explode off the coast of Virginia.
Children's & YAPicture Book

Remembering a friend with help from someone new

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

The team of Amy Hest and Amy Bates, co-creators of The Dog Who Belonged to No One (2008), return in this heartwarming tale sure to appeal to the youngest dog lovers and their parents. (Watch out: It might lead to requests to add a new puppy to the household.)

One cloudy day at the beach, a boy encounters a truly adorable black-and-white puppy with no collar or tags. Yet even when the little dog helps him dig a sand castle, the boy isn’t quite ready to scoop the stray up. Instead, the newcomer just serves to remind the boy of his old pal, Oscar. “I know what you want. You want to be pals,” the boy observes. But there can only be one pal for him: “My old pal. Oscar. My one and only dog.”

But the little dog is persistent, following at the boy’s heels. As they walk, the boy is reminded of how much Oscar loved windy days walking by the seashore, and how the boy came to the beach the day after Oscar died. Like Oscar, the puppy isn’t quite sure about dark clouds and thunder. When the storm breaks, the boy scoops his new friend up to run home through the wind, just like he and Oscar used to do.

With its simple text and gentle pencil and watercolor illustrations, this story about letting new love into one’s life comes to a satisfying conclusion with a sleepy boy and puppy curled up at home, together at last.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is A Bandit's Tale.

The team of Amy Hest and Amy Bates, co-creators of The Dog Who Belonged to No One (2008), return in this heartwarming tale sure to appeal to the youngest dog lovers and their parents. (Watch out: It might lead to requests to add a new puppy to the household.)

NonfictionBiography

Being Mrs. Adams

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

In this engaging and well-researched biography, writer and historian Louisa Thomas rescues a former first lady from near obscurity—Louisa Catherine Johnson, wife of sixth president John Quincy Adams and the only presidential spouse born outside America.

Louisa Johnson met her future husband in London, where she was one of seven children of a patriotic American merchant and an elegant English mother. When John Quincy Adams began turning up for dinner in the fall of 1795, he was entranced by the six Johnson girls, whom he called “pretty and agreeable.” But which one was he actually courting? At a ball to celebrate her 21st birthday, much to her older sister Nancy’s dismay, it became clear that the prominent young American diplomat had chosen Louisa.

She had been educated to be married, and after leaving school at 15, Louisa focused on the ladylike pursuits of dancing, painting and embroidery. Yet John Quincy Adams did not marry a woman who, as she once put it, “only intended to play an echo.” Louisa was more adept than her husband at socializing, and she used those talents as she dutifully followed him to diplomatic postings in distant capitals from Prussia to St. Petersburg (once traveling almost 2,000 miles across Europe in winter with her young son to join her husband in Paris). But she also struggled with her role as first lady, with feelings of being an outsider and with family tragedy: Only one of her four children survived her.

Louisa is a fascinating portrait of a complex woman, her sometimes tumultuous marriage and the extraordinary era in which she lived. “She witnessed a world in transformation, and a country inventing itself,” writes Thomas, “and she played a role in that invention.”

In this engaging and well-researched biography, writer and historian Louisa Thomas rescues a former first lady from near obscurity—Louisa Catherine Johnson, wife of sixth president John Quincy Adams and the only presidential spouse born outside America.
NonfictionNature

The fight to protect the mountain lion

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Unlike OR-7, the much-watched Oregon wolf whose wanderings have captured the public’s attention (OR-7 has his own website: http://or7expedition.org/), the mountain lion in science writer William Stolzenburg’s Heart of a Lion has no name. Nor is there a happy ending to his story—in June 2011, the 140-pound mountain lion (Puma concolor, cat of a single color) was killed on a parkway in Connecticut, where his like had not roamed for more than a century.

But don’t let the tragic demise of this amazing wild creature stop you from reading Stolzenburg’s book. He uses his considerable journalistic skills to piece together the fascinating story, enabling readers to become witnesses to the “remarkable journey of one lone, impassioned cat,” a trip, it turned out, that was the farthest land trek ever recorded for a wild animal in America.

In a way, the mountain lion’s public end (scientists speculate that other mountain lions heading east are shot and not reported), helped researchers find his beginning: DNA testing confirmed that the wild cat hailed from the Black Hills of South Dakota. From there, the 3-year-old male set off across the Great Plains and the Mississippi River, through the Midwest, into northern forests, and finally, to Connecticut.

Like wolves, mountain lions are feared and often misunderstood. Heart of a Lion is also an impassioned call for less hunting, and more tolerance and protection for this versatile and elusive hunter, descendent of the ancient American cheetah. As a model, Stolzenburg points to California, which has rejected the zero-tolerance policies of other Western states.

And should there be other intrepid travelers like the mountain lion who ended his short life in Connecticut, they will not find themselves without informed and committed advocates. Christopher Spatz, who features prominently in Stolzenburg’s account, along with others interested in re-wilding mountain lions in the east, is part of the volunteer-run Cougar Rewilding Foundation. After reading Heart of a Lion, readers who wish to learn more can avail themselves of Stolzenburg’s extensive bibliography or visit www.cougarrewilding.org.

Unlike OR-7, the much-watched Oregon wolf whose wanderings have captured the public’s attention, the mountain lion in science writer William Stolzenburg’s Heart of a Lion has no name. Nor is there a happy ending to his story—in June 2011, the 140-pound mountain lion (Puma concolor, cat of a single color) was killed on a parkway in Connecticut, where his like had not roamed for more than a century.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Navigating grief with new friendship and a little mystery

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Bestselling YA author Ally Condie’s debut middle grade novel transports readers to a small desert town called Iron Creek, in the first summer following an automobile accident that changed 12-year-old Cedar’s life. Cedar’s father and younger brother Ben, a boy with special needs, were killed by a drunk driver, leaving Cedar, her mother and youngest brother Miles to try to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Buying a house in the town where she grew up is Cedar’s mother’s idea, and Cedar does her best to be supportive, though it’s hard to drum up much enthusiasm. It’s not until Cedar spies a boy named Leo speeding by on his bicycle that she begins to take an interest in making new connections. Through Leo, Cedar gets a job selling concessions at the Summerlost Festival, a Shakespearean festival held on the town’s college campus each year.

As Cedar forges a friendship with Leo, she realizes they both often feel different. She has been teased in the past on Ben’s account, and a group of local boys makes fun of her Chinese-American features and Leo’s theater costume. Cedar also gets drawn into the mystique surrounding the town’s most famous resident, a Hollywood actress who got her start on stage at Summerlost and later died in town. That’s not the only mystery plaguing Cedar: Someone is leaving odd gifts on her windowsill at night. Is it Leo, the strange birds in the tree or her brother’s ghost trying to make contact?

Summerlost is a sensitive look at the power of family and friendship in the grieving process, with humor and mystery that will draw in boy and girl readers alike.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is A Bandit's Tale.

Bestselling YA author Ally Condie’s debut middle grade novel transports readers to a small desert town called Iron Creek, in the first summer following an automobile accident that changed 12-year-old Cedar’s life. Cedar’s father and younger brother Ben, a boy with special needs, were killed by a drunk driver, leaving Cedar, her mother and youngest brother Miles to try to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Children's & YAPicture Book

A little bird finds her talent

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Sally Lloyd-Jones, a leading author of inspirational and Christian books for children, teams up with acclaimed illustrator Jen Corace in this attractive picture book about a little wren searching for her own unique gifts.

Corace’s bright, inquisitive wren will be especially appealing to young children just venturing into new settings. Like a young child, Baby Wren is curious about her surroundings, but also uncertain just how she fits in and what she can do. After all, when you’re just a little wren, it seems that everyone else is a lot more accomplished.

As Baby Wren watches a kingfisher skillfully spear dinner, she stands on the shore and asks, “Why aren’t I a kingfisher. . . . So I could fish, too?” She meets other creatures: cartwheeling, ring-tailed cats; bright, swimming sunfish; and majestic eagles wheeling high in a stormy sky. It’s not easy being a tiny wren sometimes!

When the sun paints her canyon home a glorious pink, the little wren discovers that she does possess a special gift all her own. She bursts out into joyful song: “And her bright carol reached down to the river and leaped off the cliff walls and soared into the sky.” Somehow, one tiny wren has filled the air with singing.

Inspired by a Martin Luther quotation, “As long as we live, there is never enough singing,” and graced by Corace’s child-friendly illustrations, Baby Wren and the Great Gift is a lovely way to both share the joys of the natural world with young children and also talk about how each person is unique.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is A Bandit's Tale.

Sally Lloyd-Jones, a leading author of inspirational and Christian books for children, teams up with acclaimed illustrator Jen Corace in this attractive picture book about a little wren searching for her own unique gifts.

YA NonfictionYA

Revelations of a 12th-century samurai

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Fans of Margi Preus’ award-winning middle-grade historical fiction set in Japan (Heart of a Samurai and The Bamboo Sword) now have the chance to delve further into samurai history with Pamela S. Turner’s action-packed biography of the legendary warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune.

It’s no small feat to reach back hundreds of years into the past to tell this story, but Turner, who has written nonfiction books on science, including the Orbis Pictus Honor Book The Frog Scientist, is more than equal to the task. She sets the stage with a short introduction that places Yoshitsune in historical context: “Yoshitsune’s story unfolds in the late twelfth century, during the adolescence of the samurai,” and goes on to tell readers that Yoshitsune was at the heart of the awakening of this bold, rebellious culture.

And then we delve right in. Yoshitsune’s story begins in 1160, and Turner wastes no time in letting readers know just how high the stakes were for this boy, whose father left him “a lost war, a shattered family, and a bitter enemy.” Turner traces Yoshitsune’s early life, from exile in a monastery to teenage runaway, and his long journey to acquire the skills of a warrior by mastering the sword and shooting arrows from warhorses.  Readers then follow Yoshitsune’s famous career as he joins his half-brother Yoritomo in an uprising against the most powerful samurai in Japan, to his death in 1189.

Teachers and librarians will be pleased to see the extensive back matter, including an informative author’s note, source notes, a timeline, bibliography and glossary. Although the setting and time period may be new for young American readers, Gareth Hinds’ arresting brush and ink illustrations create a gorgeous package and help to extend Turner’s rich, vivid narrative. Samurai Rising is compelling nonfiction at its best.

Although this is a Junior Library Guild selection for grades nine and up, younger readers comfortable with the subject matter of war will also enjoy this title—and so will adults with an interest in Japan.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is Beatrix Potter and the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig.

Fans of Margi Preus’ award-winning middle-grade historical fiction set in Japan (Heart of a Samurai and The Bamboo Sword) now have the chance to delve further into samurai history with Pamela S. Turner’s action-packed biography of the legendary warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune.

NonfictionHistoryAmerican History

FDR’s lifelong passion for preservation

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Who knew that FDR was a budding oologist at age 10? Not only did he collect birds’ eggs and nests (oology), the young Franklin Roosevelt (burdened during his Groton years with the nickname “Feather Duster”) was a fairly serious ornithologist and naturalist. These lifelong pursuits, along with a deep and abiding appreciation for his Hudson River home, would help shape and define his conservation legacy during his presidency.

Bestselling author and Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley is no stranger to the Roosevelt family. His 2009 book, The Wilderness Warrior, celebrated Theodore Roosevelt’s love of the outdoors and his vision to protect more than 200 million acres of wild America. In this new work, Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, Brinkley brings his masterful research and storytelling skills to the life of Theodore’s cousin Franklin. But this is not simply a narrow examination of one aspect of the president’s interest in the outdoors. Instead, Brinkley uses FDR’s love of the natural world as a biographical lens, offering readers new insights into this complex national figure.

From Roosevelt’s boyhood in the Hudson, Brinkley traces his marriage to Eleanor and subsequent political career. He explores New Deal Conservation (1933-1938) and the ways in which Roosevelt married conservation goals to economic policy to combat the unemployment of the Great Depression. Anyone who has hiked on an old trail has probably been reminded of the enduring legacy of the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, which as Brinkley reveals, had a dual purpose. “If the primary selling point to Congress was work relief, the long-term vision was nothing less than to heal the wounded American earth.”

Roosevelt, asserts Brinkley, was nothing less than “America’s landscape planner.” The president made his mark in a variety of ways, from his efforts to establish local and regional park systems, to his campaigns to preserve national resources, working alongside leading environmental visionaries of the era.

Even if you’ve read other Roosevelt biographies or seen Ken Burns’ documentary, The Roosevelts, there are surprising insights in store here, as Brinkley masterfully chronicles Roosevelt’s strengths and weaknesses and the progress of the environmental movement itself during his years in office. For anyone interested in the history of our natural treasures, or who thought they understood the Roosevelt presidency, Rightful Heritage is a must read.

Bestselling author and Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley is no stranger to the Roosevelt family. His 2009 book, The Wilderness Warrior, celebrated Theodore Roosevelt’s love of the outdoors and his vision to protect more than 200 million acres of wild America. In this new work, Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, Brinkley brings his masterful research and storytelling skills to the life of Theodore’s cousin Franklin.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

One boy speaks up to save a mountain

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Ever since 12-year-old Curley Hines can remember, his grandfather has been giving him new words to learn each week. They begin with “A” in January and run through the alphabet twice during the course of a year. Papaw tells the seventh grader: “Well, Curley, words are your way out of the holler.”

Like Papaw’s words and his best friend, Jules, the holler is important to Curley. He loves his home in Wonder Gap, a coal-mining region in eastern Kentucky. But that love is tinged with pain: Coal claimed the life of Curley’s father in a mining accident, and four years later his mother and little brother were killed in a coal-related mud slide.

When the coal company changes hands, Curley and Jules are thrown together with the new owner’s son, JD, to collaborate on a science project on the eastern elk. When Curley learns that JD’s father and Tiverton Coal plan to remove the top of Red Hawk Mountain through a process called Appalachian surface coal mining, he sets out to make an Internet video to muster public opinion and garner opposition to the project. Curley uses his Papaw’s words to help guide his decisions and cope with personal challenges, and each word and its definition are featured at the end of the chapter.

Mary Knight’s heartfelt debut novel paints a vivid picture of a boy and his community, bound together by deep ties and a love of land and family. The novel is especially timely given current debates about the future of coal energy.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is Beatrix Potter and the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig.

Ever since 12-year-old Curley Hines can remember, his grandfather has been giving him new words to learn each week. They begin with “A” in January and run through the alphabet twice during the course of a year. Papaw tells the seventh grader: “Well, Curley, words are your way out of the holler.”

Children's & YAPicture Book

Celebrating one of the first female sports journalists in American history

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Although she’s not well known today, Mary Garber, born a century ago in 1916, was a pioneering sports reporter of her time. Sue Macy’s engaging picture-book biography effectively captures the young Garber’s early love of sports, including football—which she not only watched but also played.

Like other women in the 1940s, Garber found more doors open to her when men left for World War II. She was able to move from her job as a society newspaper reporter (not at all her cup of tea) to take over the sports section. After the war, she continued to report on sports, covering such milestones as Jackie Robinson’s first year with the Dodgers in 1947.

C.F. Payne’s evocative mixed-media illustrations help to provide young readers with historical context for the challenges faced by pioneering reporters like Garber. One especially effective illustration is Garber wearing a press box ID tag that clearly states that women and children are not admitted. She also broke new ground by covering high school games in Winston-Salem’s segregated schools.

Garber had a remarkable and lengthy career doing exactly what she loved best—writing about sports and athletes. Although she officially retired at age 70, she continued to write for the Winston-Salem Journal until she was 86. In addition to an author’s note, Miss Mary Reporting includes a helpful timeline, resources and source notes. Teachers and librarians will especially enjoy being able to share this biography with young sports fans and budding journalists. 

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is Beatrix Potter and the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig.

Although she’s not well known today, Mary Garber, born a century ago in 1916, was a pioneering sports reporter of her time. Sue Macy’s engaging picture-book biography effectively captures the young Garber’s early love of sports, including football—which she not only watched but also played.

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