I have long been a fan of writing about people who are not household names. in the course of my career I’ve met so many interesting people who are not necessarily famous. And wouldn’t those stories be more inspiring to young readers than the famous people? Who are kind of up on pedestals? I remember reading those biographies and thinking, “I could never be like that; that person’s famous.”
So when I read this review of “Nothing Stops Sophie,” I was so pleased! Here are the first lines:
I think we’ve done it. I think we’ve finally moved completely into a new era of biographical picture books. High time, says I! Gone are the days when a picture book biography had to be of somebody already famous. Gone the days of scanning the Biography section of the children’s room in the library only to see the same ten individuals over and over again. Now the elegant, intelligent, and obscure are filling book after book for kids.
So go read this picture book biography and celebrate all the unknown and amazing people (and racehorses, of course!) in the world!