Loved this story! ( )

Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, after her application was rejected on the basis of sex. (Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the marathon with a number; on her application she used only her first initial. See Her Fearless Run.) Bobbi loved running from when she was a child, and was determined to run a marathon. The book focuses on her life up to running Boston, but the bio in the back matter tells of her impressive studies in science as well as further running accomplishments.

Art appears to be pen and ink and watercolor, with a lovely, lively sense of movement, and a red swoosh following Bobbi as she runs.

The continued rhyming refrain, with the first line altered each time ("So she ran with her pack going higher and higher, / just her and the sound of the wind in the fire") didn't work well for me, as wind + fire makes me think of California wildfires.

Back matter includes a few paragraphs of biography about Bobbi Gibb, two photographs, and a timeline from the first modern marathon at the Athens Olympics in 1896 to "today," when "more than 12,000 women run the Boston Marathon every year." ( )

The story of Bobbi Gibb, the first women to run the Boston Marathon, beginning when she is a small girl just beginning to run.

This tells the life story of Bobbi Gibb, the first women to run the Boston marathon. Bobbi faces a lot of sexism growing up because she isn't "like other girls". She wants to run, and a lot of people were upset about that. She runs the marathon in the end, but doesn't get support from the men running the marathon.

Great story - though it is hard to imagine that women were not believed to be ABLE to run marathons such a short time ago - 1966! ( )