Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. A powerful picture book biography of the first American woman to win Olympic gold in swimming. Ethelda Bleibtrey was a girl with guts who loved the water. As a child with polio in the early 1900s, swimming set her free. The water released her from her pain and helped her build strong muscles—and a powerful spirit. "At rest and at peace with the world," is how she described her time in the water. From that place of peace, Ethelda began to find her power. From then on, Ethelda made a splash wherever she went. From the New York beaches—where she was arrested for refusing to wear swimming socks. To the choppy waters of the 1920 Olympics—where she not only became the first American woman to win gold in swimming but the only woman ever to win all of the swimming events at any Olympic Games. To the Central Park Reservoir—where she was arrested yet again for diving in against a city ordinance, a statement that helped get New York City's children their first big public swimming pool. For Ethelda, doing the right thing sometimes came with a price—change often does—but Ethelda helped make the world better than how she found it. Splash! Gr 2-4-This inspirational picture book biography shares the life journey of the Olympic swimming gold medalist and polio survivor who challenged social norms and fought for equality for women. In 1917, Ethelda Bleibtrey was a teenage girl with polio growing up in New York City, feeling exhaustive pain and weakness in her arms and legs. Doctor-recommended swimming gave her an exhilarating sense of freedom that she had never known. As she grew older, swimming became the means through which Bleibtrey pursued issues surround women's equality. She thought it was unfair that women had to swim with knee socks while men swam with bare legs, so she followed suit and was arrested for it. As the news spread, women began to remove their own socks, and eventually the police gave up trying to keep track of infractions of the antiquated rule. Bleibtrey then built a career in competitive swimming and blew through previous records. Baddeley's artwork fuels the narrative and gives structure to the book, depicting a woman with fierce determination and pluck; the art impressively interprets water as expressive, using its dynamism and reflective qualities almost as another character to expand what readers know about Bleibtrey herself. VERDICT With illustrations and text fully grounded in research, including welcome historical details and photographs that appear in the back matter, this book is heartily recommended for elementary nonfiction collections.-Lauren Youngerα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Showing respect for the line between fact and storytelling, the straightforward narrative delivers information about Bleibtrey’s life while designating the occasional fictionalized words or comments with italics or by placement within speech balloons. This picture-book biography celebrates a little-known American athlete. --Booklist With illustrations and text fully grounded in research, including ­welcome historical details and photographs that appear in the back matter, this book is heartily recommended for elementary nonfiction collections. --School Library Journal This compelling story makes full use of the illustrations. The blues and greens of the water reflect both depth and movement and the shift in Ethelda’s life from stillness to freedom...Readers will love reading about this gutsy woman.” --Kirkus Reviews Elisa Boxer is an Emmy and Murrow award winning journalist whose work has been featured in publications including The New York Times and Fast Company. She has reported for newspapers, magazines and TV stations, and has been working on this book ever since coming back home to Maine for her first job in television news in 1996. She is the author of numerous acclaimed nonfiction picture books, including The Voice That Won the Vote, and SPLASH!: Ethelda Bleibtrey Makes Waves of Change (a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection). Elisa lives in Maine and has more children’s books on the way.