Playing to Win

by Karen Deans, Elbrite Brown (Illustrator)

Growing up in Harlem in the 1930s, Althea Gibson became tough and rebellious. Some said she was having trouble finding her way, until she was a teenager when she discovered she had a talent for sports. In fact, Althea was a natural at tennis, but tennis was played mostly by wealthy white people in country clubs that excluded African Americans.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Althea was not deterred. Instead, she set about becoming a barrier-breaking and world-famous athlete.

Genres: Biography, Picture Books, Sports, Nonfiction, Childrens, African American

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 2007

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Althea Gibson since I was a kid and it is great to see a fine children’s biography of her. The art is graphically strong and I appreciated knowing about her background and struggles in school. What I wish is that there had been more specifics about how she pushed herself to succeed. We are told that she had support both from her community and specific friends, coaches and benefactors. It is great to know that a government sponsored goodwill tour came at an opportune time and helped both in terms of constant play, economic security and a chance to relish the pure fun of the game. But there are lots of phrases like ‘She wanted to be number one’, ‘she decided it was time for her to win’, ‘she was going to make it happen’. Well, a lot of talented people feel and think that and most do not ‘make it happen’. I would have loved some quotes in Althea’s own words, either reflecting on what helped her win or reflecting on her feeling for the game. That would have made this story sing.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography of Althea Gibson and her tennis prowess does well with acknowledging the hard truth about being Black in America. It shows how hard it was to live in the south when you were Black and how hard it was to stay focused at other things when your skill and talent was professional level sport. The illustrations by Elbrite Brown are bright and engaging.

I see this as an additional purchase for a collection for children.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informational story for young children, each section was short but descriptive. Appreciated that it didn’t shy away from talking about discrimination of being a black woman in the 1940’s, though more could have probably been said on it. Good inspirational story, especially for kids who find more comfort in sports than academics

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

About Althea Gibson from childhood through winning Wimbledon the first time.

The cut paper makes the illustrations feel really layered.

Even though it's citing years, the timeline in the latter part of this book feels a little hard to follow because there are time skips/glosses that aren't all consistent in length.

[Jody Kyburz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Althea Gibson was pretty amazing, but I'm only learning about her for the first time at this point in my life. My students love her story!

[Lulu Hawkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Playing to Win: The Story of Althea Gibson, is a biographical account of the interesting life of Althea Gibson, a pioneer of the professional tennis world for black female athletes. Initially, I didn't find that this picture book was written with young learners in mind. The language and concepts didn't seem broken down in a way that was tangible enough. Maybe I am underestimating the degree to which 1st graders can absorb material, but I doesn't seem like a story children would find easy to relate to. But looking past this, I think that Althea Gibson's story is an important one for any children to learn. She overcame tough economic circumstances in her early life because someone mentored her and saw her potential, and helped her succeed. Her story teaches determination. But also teaches young people about the challenges people of color faced in the South before the Civil Rights Movement, something that seems like the distant past to today's youth. Her story explains how one person could command the respect and attention of both black and white people across the US, as well as grain worldwide notoriety. The illustrations by Elbrite Brown don't do the book enough justice. Because the content is serious and wordy, the dull illustrations make this book less exciting. Bright illustrations would have done the book good. But overall, I would still recommend this book be read in schools. It's a valuable story. After having read a lot of Angela Johnson books, I see a lot of similarities in her use of historical references to African American history and cultural that this biographical picture book informs readers of as well.

[Courtney Turpen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Althea Gibson group up with the love and support of a loving family. After they moved out of the south and to New York, Althea could do nothing but get in trouble. She then started to play any kind of sport with balls. She especially loved tennis.So her journey began with her love of tennis. She was very good and won lots of state tournaments and all black tournaments, but she wanted to do better she wanted to be a part of the USTLA. She worked and worked and made her way in, but los second round. She started to give up hope and her game brain to worsen. Her friend Sydney decided to help coach her and wanted her to go for a second chance. Althea strived to do her best and eventually one the most important tennis competition in the world, Wimbledon. This illustrations in this book really give it an African American feel with the warm colors and abstract art.

[The Library Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is well told. The problem is the uneven art work.

The artist is quoted as saying he felt Althea Gibson was as "graceful as a ballerina" and wanted that to be reflected in the pictures. And the cover art does so, and some of the other action pictures are excellent as well. But in many of the other pictures people have their heads oddly tilted and eyes closed. The picture of Althea on a campus where EVERYONE is doing this is particularly disturbing. Very distracting and strange.

[sarafem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibson broke the race barrier in professional tennis. Interestingly, I read here that she was a professional singer and golfer as well. This book was well-written and flowed like fiction rather than another boring biography. Pictures were beautiful, though I started to wonder if people didn't all look a little stereotypical.

[Noreen Trotsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A picture book biography about tennis great Althea Gibson. The book follows Althea's perseverance to become the greatest tennis player in the world and the racial barriers she broke as she fought her way to the top. This would have been a higher rated book but for the illustrations.
Thank you to Edelweiss, the publisher, and the author for the digital ARC of this book.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

You've heard of Serena and Venus Williams, but have you heard of Althea Gibson? Born to sharecroppers in the 1920s, this impressive woman became the first African American to win Wimbledon and was the number one women's tennis player. This is a story of overcoming obstacles and doubts to persist and become great.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good picture book biography about the first african american woman tennis player. Brings to light the fact that as a black woman, she was not allowed to play in many of the top flight tennis tournaments - but with her talent she ultimately earned the Wimbledon trophy.

[Ellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had LOTS of great information about Althea Gibson and would be great for someone doing research about her life. The text was very dry and straight forward to me. I didn't care for the illustration style.

[Katherine Keane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent book about one of the first great African American female tennis players. Nothing that particularly stood out to me.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Annamarie Carlson (she, her)]

Learn about the life of tennis superstar Althea Gibson.

[Samantha Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Playing to Win would be great for a research project, but the text is lengthy and felt long for a picture book. It also felt dry compared to some of my other favorite biography picture books.