Running Girl: The Diary of Ebonee Rose

Running Girl: The Diary of Ebonee Rose "I told her Gail Devers had a sudden case of Graves' disease, which caused her feet to bleed so much she couldn't walk. She had to be carried everywhere, even to the bathroom. Doctors wanted to amputate her feet. That was in 1991. A year later, in 1992, she won a gold medal for the 100 meters at the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain."

This is just one of the entries by a young track star to be named Ebonee Rose in Sharon Bell Mathis' newest release, Running Girl: The Diary of Ebonee Rose. Eleven year old Ebonee Rose is estatic about the upcoming All City track event in twenty days. She's been counting down and expressing her inner thoughts and feelings inside of her diary.

Ebonee comments on the interaction between her track mates, Coach Teena, Ebonee's parents and Queenie, Ebonee's arch foe/arch friend depending on the direction the wind is blowing. Queenie is one of those people who seem to take the smoothness out of life and Ebonee is faced with the chore of finding kindness in her heart for her team mate.

Last but not least, there's Jay-Jay.The young man Ebonee has been watching and hopes that he has been watching her, too.

Queenie nor Jay-Jay are enough to capture Ebonee's attention as much as her the All City event and her twisted ankle 11 days before the event.

The power behind this book stems from the historical information intertwined into the story which proves invaluable for the young reader.

Diary entries contain information on African American Olympic track stars from Audrey Patterson, the first African American woman to ever win a medal in the history of the Olympic games in 1948 to Wyomia Tyus, the first athlete to ever win two gold medals for the 100 meters at the Olympics in 1964 and 1968 and more.

There are also pictues of the Black Queens of track and field and quotes expressing their feelings and attitudes toward the sport. "I was the underdog and I was out to win." - Valerie Briscoe-Hooks

Running Girl contains such an outstanding and vibrant history on African American Women Athletes in a literary form for young readers that it creates a toss up as to whom will obtain the book first, parents or children.

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