© 2000  Terry Widener
Client: Harcourt Brace Publishers
Medium: Acrylic on Paper
Size: Various sizes
Use: Children's Book
Title: "America's Champion Swimmer,
          Gertrude Ederle"

AWARDS
Junior Library Guild List
2000 Capitol Choices
2001Toy Portfolio Oppenheim Platinum Award
2001 Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book

REVIEWS

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Book Review,

 "Adler's story and Widener's drawings are a triumph in themselves."
Copyright 2000 Leigh Fenly, The San Diego Union-Tribune, June 18, 2000

"The team behind The Babe & I and Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man here abandons
the baseball field for the chilly, choppy waters of the English Channel, which Ederle
swam across in 1926...Widener's stylized acrylic paintings again creatively evoke a
bygone era, while Adler's direct yet descriptive narrative establishes the historical context...
Text and art offer a compelling, in-depth account of the adult Ederle's crossing of the Channel..."
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"In the acrylic paintings, characters with large bodies and small heads, suggesting
Depression-era art, are set on impressionistic backgrounds. The pictures of the swirling,
rough water add fluidity and motion, and the perspectives that show the small figure of
the swimmer in the vast sea capture the immensity of Ederle's endeavor. Attractive formatting
and large type make this story of achievement as effective and as inspiring to read aloud as this
team's Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man (1997) and The Babe & I (1999, both Gulliver).
By JEAN GAFFNEY , Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, OH
From School Library Journal
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Adler and Widener, who previously combined their talents in books about Babe Ruth and
Lou Gehrig, turn to the distaff side of athletics for their latest subject.
Widener's durable, strongly physical deep-hued artwork displays the right muscle for the biography.
The two-page spread showing Ederle eating a chicken leg while crossing the channel will make kids smile,
and the picture of her triumphant emergence from the water captures both the effort and the energy that
went into the extraordinary swim. An author's note is appended." By ILENE COOPER
Copyright 2000 Booklist