WE GOT GAME!

This collective biography presents 35 female athletes who have left marks on their sports, chosen to inspire a new generation of girls.

A broad range of sports is represented, including soccer, gymnastics, bobsled, wheelchair racing, and (stretching definitions a bit) ballet. They include well-known figures like African Americans standouts Misty Copeland and Serena Williams as well as less-familiar but equally revolutionary athletes such as Tatyana McFadden, a White Paralympian who competes in wheelchair racing and nordic skiing, and Marlen Esparza, a Latinx Olympic boxer. Each three-page profile includes one full-page portrait, one page of “amazing facts and unbelievable stats,” and one page of biographical information that includes causes important to them. As these are very accomplished athletes, editing down their life stories to one page is difficult, and Weintraub leaves readers wanting more. One of White Paralympian Hannah Cockroft’s facts is not even a fact about her, but her sport: “T34 is a sport classification for people with certain disabilities like Hannah’s.” (It is also not very illuminating.) Unfortunately, the illustrations are not effective in celebrating these athletes, curiously presenting them with very little muscular definition; it’s hard to tell these athletes are at the primes of their careers. Of the 35 women, more than half present as White; several Black athletes are represented, but there are only two East Asian, one South Asian, and four Latinx athletes. LGBTQ+ athletes and athletes with disabilities are also represented.

These amazing athletes deserve better.