Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion

by Russell Freedman

An intimate portrait of the legendary woman who changed the world's perception of female athletes forever details her rise to fame as an All-American basketball player, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field, and a champion golfer, tennis player, baseball player, diver, and bowler, and who received the great honor of being named Woman Athlete of the Half Century in 1950.

Genres: Biography, Sports, Nonfiction, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published August 23, 1999

About the author

Russell A. Freedman was an American biographer and the author of nearly 50 books for young people. He may be known best for winning the 1988 Newbery Medal with his work Lincoln: A Photobiography.

He grew up in San Francisco and attended the University of California, Berkeley, and then worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press and as a publicity writer. His nonfiction books ranged in subject from the lives and behaviors of animals to people in history. Freeedman's work has earned him several awards, including a Newbery Honor each for Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery in 1994 and The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane in 1992, and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal.

Freedman traveled extensively throughout the world to gather information and inspiration for his books. His book, Confucius: The Golden Rule was inspired by his extensive travels through Mainland China, where he visited Confucius' hometown in modern day QuFu, in the Shantung Province.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was a world-famous athlete at the time of her death from cancer. She played basketball and baseball, was champion swimmer and diver, a gold-medalist at the 1932 Olympics in Track and Field and professional golfer who founded the LPGA. This well-researched biography is packed with stats and photographs. I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in the history of women's sports.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion by Russell Freedman- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The book narrates the story of Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956) When Babe Didrikson Zaharias was a child, her goal was to be the greatest athlete who ever lived. Few people come as close to their childhood goals as Babe did. She was an All-American basketball player, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field, and a championship golfer who won eighty-two amateur and professional tournaments. She also mastered tennis, played exhibition baseball, and was an accomplished diver and bowler. The Associated Press elected her Woman Athlete of the Year six times and in 1950 named her Woman Athlete of the Half Century. Babe accomplished all of this at a time when most girls and women didn't take part in these sports. Didrikson set four world records, winning two gold medals and one silver medal for track and field in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In the 80-meter hurdles, she equaled the world record of 11.8 seconds in her opening heat. In the final, she broke her record with an 11.7 clocking, taking gold. In the javelin, she also won gold with an Olympic record throw of 43.69 meters. In the high jump, she took silver with a world record-tying leap of 1.657 metres (5.44 ft). Didrikson is the only track and field athlete, male or female, to win individual Olympic medals in separate running, throwing and jumping events. Coloured illustrations help the reader in relating to the story.

[Lavinia · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like books with just facts about a person's life, this is the book for you. The story of a young girl who was full of vivacity and life though she lived in poverty, later becoming the greatest female athlete of all time is a truly amazing story. However, this book is not in story form, and while I enjoyed it, at some points it became rather monotonous. This book is a straightforward narrative of her life, and well worth reading to gain knowledge on this individual.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t follow sports but this book was gifted to me. It was amazing to read about an incredible female athlete and I think the book was fairly engaging for a biography. It seems surprising that Babe’s name isn’t more we’ll known given all she’s accomplished. (Although, maybe she is well know, just not by me.)

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as juvenile nonfiction goes, this is a decent specimen. As a biography, it appears to be fairly comprehensive (although, not being an expert on Babe Zaharias, what do I know, really?). Engaging, informative, detailed, yet still accessible, the book focuses for the majority on the accomplishments of the subject's life, but does not omit disappointments, failures, or shortcomings, which helps to paint a balanced picture. I would recommend this for a public library collection and for a middle level or high school library's collection, especially as the lives of 20th century figures start to become more and more the focus of reports, projects, study, etc.
Personally, I don't sports; I don't follow stats, I don't know athlete names, and I don't know the rules of most games out there. Despite this, I found myself engaged by Babe, interested in her story - this, to me, qualifies as a page-turner.
Written in a lively, enthusiastic style, the chronicle of Didrikson's life does almost glow at points, which, while a bit sycophantic, was at least entertaining.
Readers will find Babe to be a polarizing character. She is brassy to the point of arrogance; energetic, excitable, bewildering. She is lauded as a pioneer and she certainly deserves that distinction; in a time when there were definite expectations regarding gender roles, Babe had no compunctions about being exactly who she was or about pursuing her passions. For this, I must admire her.
What I found irritating was the author's thinly veiled attempts to be politically correct and trendily progressive: there are a few passages that struck me as deliberately pro-feminist, but also as unnecessary and, worse, awkward, as though he found himself forced to write them. Much better were the verbatim comments from male sportscasters and the summation of the reactions to Babe and attitudes of the general populace regarding her endeavors; these showcase with painful clarity the challenges Babe must have faced as the athletic phenom she was, living in the time that she did, and make the feminist point more eloquently than awkward, vague rambling.
Overall, the book is worth reading. It's a quick study with a decent amount of information, written in a positive voice but mostly spared from authorial contemplation and opinion, that covers the complete arc of a life from childhood to death and probably most of the high- and low-lights between. And, admittedly, while overly adulating prose tends to grate, there is undeniably something to be said for the ground-breaking nature of Didrikson's life - both the public and private aspects of it. For that, I can forgive the moments of doe-eyed awe.

[Kristin Arens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though I don't care very much for sports at all, it wasn't too bad reading about Babe. She was a very accomplished athlete from the get-go in pretty much everything she tried. I also liked that she played the harmonica because I always appreciate when people are into music and the arts. I was actually probably more interested in reading about the acting and musical aspects of her career than the sports. She did have many many outstanding accomplishments throughout her life, though, and she surprised me with all she did.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I LOVE Russell Freedman--I think he does a great job writing history and nonfiction-my goal in life is to read all of his books. I also found Babe's story inspiring and amazing, but I can't say I really liked Babe--which makes it hard to recommend the book.

[Ashley]

Young Adult Nonfiction

[Lib 5030 Group 5]

JBIO ZAH