Review: Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played To Win by Rachel Ignotofsky

Title: Women In Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win
Author: Rachel Ignotofsky
Source/Format: Blogging for Books; Hardcover
More Details: Nonfiction; Sports
Publisher/Publication Date: Ten Speed Press; July 18, 2017
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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Women in Sports highlights notable women's contributions to competitive athletics to inspire readers young and old. Keeping girls interested in sports has never been more important: research suggests that girls who play sports get better grades and have higher self-esteem--but girls are six times more likely to quit playing sports than boys and are unlikely to see female athlete role models in the media. A fascinating collection full of striking, singular art, Women in Sports features 50 profiles and illustrated portraits of women athletes from the 1800s to today including trailblazers, Olympians, and record-breakers in more than 40 different sports. The book also contains infographics about relevant topics such as muscle anatomy, a timeline of women's participation in sports, statistics about women in athletics, and influential female teams...

 Last year, I had the chance to receive a copy of Women in Science for review, and it ended up being one of my favorite reads of 2016. And now, Rachel Ignotofsky has released a new book, Women in Sports. I'm excited to talk about about this book since it's my latest nonfiction read, and it deals with sports. By the way, I don't follow sports like that. I'm more of a casual observer, but it's nice to know more about those who are considered pioneers in their respective sport—at least by name—and Women in Sports does just that.

Like Ignotofsky’s last book, Women in Sports was comprised of 50 profiles of women who excel at what they do. It included names like Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Danica Patrick, Kelly Clarke, Althea Gibson, Kristi Yamaguchi, and many others that I wasn't familiar with. The profiles are relatively short with a page of illustrations and another with a neat summary of early life and crowning/breakthrough moments. I honestly didn't mind because I went into this book expecting summaries. That being said, Women in Sports introduced me to a lot of women athletes that I'd honestly never heard of before. Another thing I want to mention was the overall design of this book. I loved it. The pages were colorful and covered in illustrations specifically tailored to the subject of each profile. I also liked the fact that there were a couple of other things added to this book like a chart on muscle anatomy and a timeline of when major accomplishments were made by various female athletes. Some of my other favorite profiles included:

• Anita Defrantz (Rower and Athletic Administrator)
• Deng Yaping (Ping Pong Player) (Professional ping pong is intense. Don't believe me? Look up some of Deng Yaping's matches on youtube). 
• Gertude Ederle (Distance Swimmer)
• Ashley Fiolek (Motorcross Rider)
• and Melissa Stockell (Paratriathhlete)

Overall, Women in Sports is a good reference book and I look forward to Ignotofsky’s future work. I’m definitely going to keep this one on my shelf.

This copy of the book was provided by Blogging for Books for this review.

About the author...

Rachel Ignotofsky grew up in New Jersey on a healthy diet of cartoons and pudding. She graduated with honors from Tyler School of Art’s graphic design program in 2011. Now she lives in beautiful Kansas City, Missouri, where she spends all day drawing and learning as much as she can. She has a passion for taking dense information and making it fun and accessible and is dedicated to creating educational works of art. Rachel is inspired by history and science and believes that illustration is a powerful tool that can make learning exciting. She uses her work to spread her message about education, scientific literacy, and powerful women. She hopes this book inspires girls and women to follow their passions and dreams...