challenges – Mom Read It

Annette Feels Free breaks barriers and dances past challenges

Posted on September 6, 2022September 6, 2022 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Annette Feels Free: The True Story of Annette Kellerman, World-Class Swimmer, Fashion Pioneer, and Real-Life Mermaid, by Katie Mazeika, (Sept. 2022, Beach Lane Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781665903431

Ages 4-8

Born in 1887, Australian youngster Annette Kellerman loved the freedom that she felt while dancing, but was sidelined by a childhood disease that attacked her legs. As part of her physical therapy, her father brought her to Lavender Bay, where the freedom of the ocean and the absence of her braces gave her the freedom she missed. She spent more time in the ocean, strengthening her legs, and became a water artist: she danced, she competed, and she attempted to swim the English Channel. Katie Mazeika’s picture book biography on Annette Kellerman looks at her life in the water, where she was feted as a “Diving Venus” and includes her struggle against Victorian social mores that kept her in bloomers and skirts, impeding her swimming career, until she designed – and fought to wear – a more comfortable, practical swimsuit, which influenced women’s swimwear fashion.

Mazeika covers challenges that today’s readers can easily identify and understand: overcoming physical disability, the drive to compete, and inequality. She navigates Kellerman’s life with informative, age-appropriate text; her artwork brings the wonder and excitement. Back matter includes an author’s note on Annette Kellerman’s life, photographs, and a note on overcoming physical challenges. A very good addition to picture book biography collections.

Download a free curriculum guide for Annette Feels Free at author Katie Mazeika’s webpage. Learn more about Annette Kellerman at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia and the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Katherine Mazeika is an author and illustrator with a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design. When she isn’t in the studio, she likes to spend time at the theater, in her garden, or getting lost in a good book. She lives in Ohio with her husband, two kids (Lillian and Jack), and two dogs. To learn more, and download a free curriculum guide, visit her website at katiemazeika.com.

Twitter: @kdmaz

Instagram: @kdmazart

Facebook: Katie Mazeika Illustration

A Junior Library Guild Selection

“Annette’s legacy in competitive, artistic, and recreational swimming is undeniable, and Mazeika’s text deftly balances her subject’s varied career. . . . Swim-pressive!”—Kirkus Reviews

“An enthralling introduction to a remarkable woman.”—Booklist

Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction, Tween Reads

Kid Artists is a great addition to Quirk’s “Kid” series

Posted on July 21, 2016August 24, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Kid Artists, by David Stabler/Illustrated by Doogie Horner (Aug. 2016, Quirk Books), $13.95, ISBN: 9781594748967

Recommended for ages 8-12

The third outing in Stabler and Horner’s “Kid” series, following Kid Presidents and Kid Athletes, introduces kids to artists. Before the museum exhibitions, every artist was a kid, shaped by his or her circumstances. Kid Artists organizes 17 artist profiles into three sections: Call of the Wild, focusing on artists who grew up with a love of the outdoors; It’s a Hard-Knock Life, featuring artists who overcame obstacles like discrimination, war, poverty, and extreme shyness; and Practice Makes Perfect, where artists who had a teacher, friend, or family member cheering them on to practice, perfect, and succeed.

There are funny stories and inspirational stories, all illustrated in full-color. We learn that Claude Monet had a lucrative caricature business as a kid, and that Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of Medusa, on a shield was so terrifying that his father almost ran away from it! Kids will meet artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose graffiti art on the streets of New York garnered them fame, and Jacob Lawrence, whose Migration Series tells the story of the migration of African-American families from the rural, southern United States up north, in search of a better life.

I enjoy this series, because it introduces kids to a wide range of people under one umbrella term. They’ll be exposed to new people, cultures, and ideas, in a kid-friendly atmosphere with a bite-sized biography that shows them that no only do we all start out as kids, but we all have challenges to overcome.

Early Reader, Non-Fiction

Colors of the Wind – “The wind is like a rainbow.”

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Colors of the Wind: The Story of Blind Artist and Champion Runner, George Mendoza, by J.L. Powers (Sept. 2014, Purple House Press), $18.95, ISBN: 978-1930900738

Recommended for ages 7+

Colors of the Wind is one of those inspiring books that will take your breath away. Written for young readers and excellent for read-alouds in the classroom and the home, Colors of the Wind tells the story of George Mendoza, Olympic runner and painter.

As a child, George was always in motion. He was that kid that never stayed still; he wanted to be a basketball player when he got older. But his vision began to deteriorate, and he saw bursts of color. Suffering from a rare form of blindness called fundus flavimaculatus, his central vision has been destroyed, but he retains peripheral vision, which he refers to as “kaleidoscope eyes” because of the way objects reflect and are multiplied in his vision.

To take his mind off his blindness, George started running and ended up competing in two Olympics. He later began painting, remembering a priest who told him to paint what he saw. He uses fingerpaints, brushes – anything that will communicate to others the unique and beautiful way George sees the world.

This book is gorgeous. Illustrated with Mr. Mendoza’s paintings, this is a truly inspiring story of a man who literally changed his point of view. The text is enhanced with drawings by Hayley Morgan-Sanders. JL Powers presents Mr. Mendoza’s story with short sentences that are perfect for allowing young listeners to grasp the concepts presented and allows for deeper discussion on overcoming challenges and celebrating what gifts we have to work with.

The book includes a short biography on George Mendoza, and a list of paintings featured in the book. Two of my favorites are featured below: Purple Moon and Blind Man Touching the Sun.

Colors of the Wind is available in stores now – ask your local bookstore, or order from Amazon!