Trudy's Big Swim

February 13, 2017
Macy and Collins, the duo behind 2011’s Basketball Belles, pay lively tribute to another feat of female athleticism: American swimmer Gertrude Ederle’s record-setting 1926 swim across the English Channel: “Two hundred people had tried to swim the Channel before. Only five men had made it, and none on their first try.” Collins’s aggressive mixed-media artwork is well-suited to the tension and physicality of Ederle’s swim; in one especially cinematic scene, she’s shown surging through cold, choppy water filled with jellyfish and driftwood, a look of determination evident beneath her red swimming cap and goggles. An afterword dives deeper into Ederle’s story; in a fitting coda, Collins ends with a vignette of the happily exhausted swimmer lounging in a bubble bath at her hotel in Dover, following her victorious arrival on the English shore. Ages 6–10.

January 1, 2017
This picture-book biography of the first woman to swim the English Channel makes a big splash. On Aug. 6, 1926, Gertrude Ederle took the world by storm. As a teenager she earned records for swimming sprint distances, and in 1924 she earned one gold and two bronze medals at the Olympics. By 1925 she had set 29 swimming records. Her endurance and determination made the white New Yorker a strong candidate to challenge the English Channel, which she achieved. The focus of the narrative is on the actual event, with details that give depth to the swim and the woman. Since holding onto the boat was not permitted during the attempt, her support team used a net at the end of a long pole to deliver a baby bottle with chicken broth and fried chicken to give her energy while she treaded water. The 21 miles from a beach in France to the English shore took her 14 hours and 39 minutes. The dramatic, full-bleed illustrations combine with the evocative text to humanize the event and the heroine. Especially effective are the perspectives and depiction of water. Impressive research is evident in the author's note, bibliographic essay, and source notes. Endpapers list a timeline of 1920s sports highlights. A valuable addition to picture-book biographies of women who made waves in history. (afterword) (Picture book/biography. 6-9)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 2-4-Prolific writer Macy has created a visually stunning picture book biography of Olympian Gertrude Ederle's history-making swim across the English Channel in 1926. Collins's Prismacolor pencils on vellum illuminate the hazards of the 21-mile swim: jellyfish, sharks, driftwood, and strong currents, as well as the logistics of eating during the 14-hour endeavor. Two hundred people had previously attempted the swim prior to Ederle, and only 12 had made it, all of whom were men. Ederle was a teenage success story, winning one gold and two bronze medals at the 1924 Olympics. Readers will be enthralled to discover how she kept warm, battled leg cramps, and kept her spirits up and how she actually swam 35 more miles because the current threw her off course. The afterword and author's note are what really make this work stand out from others. This is one of the few titles to mention that Ederle was not in fact a teen at the time of the crossing. She had already turned 20, but saying she was a teenager made her feat even more impressive, so the media ran with it. Ederle's life after the crossing was just as remarkable. She was nearly deaf after age 22, and a back injury hampered her chances of walking or swimming again. But Ederle continued to walk and eventually taught swimming to deaf children, living to the ripe old age of 98. Back matter includes additional context on the politics and culture of the United States in the 1920s.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2017
Grades 1-4 England or drown is my motto. That's the statement 19-year-old Gertrude (Trudy) Ederle gives reporters the day before she swims the almost 21-mile stretch from France to England via the English Channel. The New York Times calls Trudy the greatest freestyle swimmer of her sex ever developed. Quite an honorable compliment for a young woman during a time when female athletes were finally starting to make headlines on the sports page. Trudy's well-deserved accolades go beyond gender recognition as she successfully traverses the channel faster than anyoneman or woman. Highlighting dramatic moments in Trudy's epic August 1926 performance, Macy's riveting narrative is a pleasant balance of storytelling and factual information. Collins brings the story to life with his stunning double-page scenes and mixed-media illustrations, capturing the highs and lows of her daring journey across the English Channel. Facial close-ups reveal dramatic moments of Trudy's persistence in tackling the channel's notorious weather changes. Time lines, resources, an afterword, and a special author's note on corrected factual information bring this thorough work of nonfiction to close.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
Bitter cold, fatigue, leg cramps, driftwood obstacles, jellyfish stings, threats of shark attacks--it's the rare individual who would risk all this for the chance to be the first woman to swim the English Channel, a distance of twenty-one miles as the crow flies but considerably farther for a swimmer up against the push-pull of tides and currents. Macy and Collins (the pair behind Roller Derby Rivals and Basketball Belles) assuredly capture twenty-year-old Gertrude Ederle's unique fortitude of August 6, 1926, when, after fourteen-plus hours, she achieved her goal. The book begins mid-swim, and Macy's immediate, involving text takes breaks only to supply essential backstory (Ederle had failed at her first attempt to swim the Channel) and scene-setting details (to encourage Ederle as she swam, her supporters played music on a phonograph aboard a tugboat traveling beside her). Collins's retro-flavored mixed-media art has a you-are-there, camera-like perspective, zooming in at key points along the way; at times, water droplets smash against a lens barely separating Ederle from the reader. Appended resources include an afterword offering perspective on Ederle's place and time, drawing a through-line from American women's right to vote, won in 1920, to a greater open-mindedness regarding female participation in aspects of public life--including sports, previously thought to be men's domain. nell beram

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2017
Macy and Collins assuredly capture twenty-year-old Gertrude Ederle's unique fortitude of August 6, 1926, when, after fourteen-plus hours, she achieved her goal of being the first woman to swim the English Channel. The book begins mid-swim, and Macy's immediate, involving text takes breaks only to supply essential backstory and scene-setting details. Collins's retro-flavored mixed-media art has a you-are-there, camera-like perspective. Timeline. Bib.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)