Wren and Rook ISBN 9781526360922 £12.99
An inspirational celebration of women who pushed themselves to the limit, achieved their dreams and created opportunities for future generations. Some are well-known, such as Serena Williams, Tanni Grey-Thompson and Nicola Adams but some are lesser known like Madge Syers, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Mia Hamm. More than 40 sports are represented and the time frame ranges from the 1800s to the present day. The book is a visual delight and there is also a significant amount of information presented in an accessible way. The format of a double page spread with a stylised portrait, infoboxes and a page of text is similar to the approach in Ignotofsky’s bestselling Women in Science and there are interesting sections on muscle anatomy, pay and media statistics. I was particularly impressed by the quotations. ‘My legacy is to the youth of America, to let them know they can be anything they want to be,’ said Wilma Rudolph. ‘I am not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps, I’m the first Simone Biles.’ Highly recommended for KS2.
Brenda Marshall, SATIPS Council