Nonfiction Picture Books
The Book Rescuer
How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come
Illustrated by Stacy Innerst
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award
for Picture Books, 2020
My Grandma Adel was on my mind a lot while I was writing The Book Rescuer. My mom’s mother was a native Yiddish speaker who immigrated to the United States soon after the end of World War I. Like many Jewish immigrants, my grandmother did her best to learn the language of her adopted country, taking classes at night school and speaking English as often as she could. She still spoke to her children in Yiddish, but she only shared a few phrases with me and her seven grandsons.
When I was searching for the right tone to tell this story, I channeled Grandma Adel. Using English with some Yiddish words thrown in, I tried my best to recreate the warm, haimishe lilt of her voice. I wish she’d had the chance to meet Aaron Lansky and see how successful he’s been in his efforts to rescue Yiddish books and resurrect interest in the language and its literature. She would have kvelled.
Published by Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, 2019 • 48 pages • Ages 5 to 8 • ISBN 978-1-4814-7220-3 • A Junior Library Guild Selection
Trudy’s Big Swim
How Gertrude Ederle Swam the English Channel
and Took the World by Storm
Illustrated by Matt Collins
Gertrude Ederle and I go way back. In the early 1980s, when I was just starting out, I wrote a classroom play for Scholastic Action magazine about Trudy’s English Channel swim. When my editors at Holiday House offered me the chance to revisit this defining moment in women’s sports, I began by digging through my old files. It was a great starting point, but a lot had happened since then. My experience writing more than a dozen books on sports history gave me new perspective on Trudy’s accomplishments. Meanwhile, other authors had written insightful books about her. I had the opportunity to meet one of them—Trudy’s niece, Mary Ederle Ward—and hear her memories of her aunt.
I also had the benefit of working with Matt Collins, my collaborator on two previous picture books, who brought Trudy’s swim to life with extraordinary drama and style. I’m excited that readers who might not know Trudy’s story can take the plunge with our book.
Published by Holiday House, 2017 • 32 pages • Ages 6 to 10 • ISBN 978-0-8234-3665-1 (Hardback); 978-0-8234-4189-1 (Paperback) • A Junior Library Guild Selection
Miss Mary Reporting
The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber
Illustrated by C. F. Payne
When I was growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s, the newspaper was my window on the world. I began every morning at the kitchen table, reading whichever section of the New York Times I could get my hands on—preferably Sports. After school, I pored over our local paper, the Passaic-Clifton Herald-News. Starting when I was 16, I actually worked for that paper, spending three summers writing feature stories, obituaries, and answers to readers’ questions in the consumer help column.
Needless to say, Mary Garber was a woman after my own heart. Mary worked as a sports reporter for close to six decades. Along the way she recorded the achievements and nurtured the dreams of thousands of young athletes in her home state of North Carolina and beyond. She also became a role model for budding reporters, especially women trying to make it in the often-unwelcoming field of sports journalism. I had a great time learning about Mary and I think C.F. Payne did a terrific job bringing her to life with his illustrations. I hope you enjoy getting to know her.
Published by Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, 2016 • 40 pages • Ages 5 to 8 • ISBN 978-1-4814-0120-3 • A Junior Library Guild Selection
Roller Derby Rivals
Illustrated by Matt Collins
In December 1948, New Yorkers fell head over heels in love with Roller Derby. They clamored for tickets and caused near riots at the box office of the 69th Regiment Armory, the site of the barnstorming Derby’s 17-day visit to the city. Many of the fans who were turned away from the sold-out bouts were determined to catch the action on television, the miracle machine that was just beginning to find its footing in New York homes.
Television made instant celebrities of the Derby’s daredevils skaters, and none became more famous than rivals Gerry Murray and Midge “Toughie” Brasuhn. Roller Derby Rivals takes an up-close-and-personal look at one bout during the Derby’s historic visit to New York, with Toughie and Gerry leading the way. Thanks to illustrator Matt Collins, the action is as colorful and exciting as it was back in the day.
Published by Holiday House, 2014 • 32 pages • Ages 6 to 10 • ISBN 978-0-8234-2923-3 (Hardback); 978-0-8234-4185-3 (Paperback) • A Junior Library Guild Selection
Basketball Belles
How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player
Put Women's Hoops on the Map
Illustrated by Matt Collins
On April 4, 1896, eighteen players—nine per team—stormed onto the improvised basketball court at San Francisco’s Page Street Armory to make sports history. The players, from Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley, were about to square off in the first basketball game ever between two women’s college teams. Among those leading the charge for Stanford was Agnes Morley, who would later recount the details of the game to her classmates back at school.
I decided to tell the story of this game through Agnes’s eyes in a picture book—my first—because I wanted readers to be right there as the players jumped, lunged, dove, and scrambled. Fortunately, my editors at Holiday House chose the perfect illustrator to capture the excitement and elegance of the game, Matt Collins. It was the beginning of a three-book collaboration.
Published by Holiday House, 2011 • 32 pages • Ages 6 to 10 • ISBN 978-0-8234-2163-3 (Hardback); 978-0-8234-4175-4 (Paperback) • A Junior Library Guild Selection