Wilma Unlimited

Reader Response:
After reading this book, I felt proud to be a woman, a runner, and a Tennessean. Alongside beautiful illustrations, Kathleen Krull tells the uplifting story of Wilma Rudolph, a native of Clarksville, TN who went on to win a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics. The story eloquently recounts how Wilma overcame Polio, racial discrimination, and other hardships in her youth. The story explains how Wilma's determination helped her to be the first person in her family to go to college and follows her adventures to Rome, Italy. The lesson provided by the story will help encourage girls (and boys) to reach for their dreams even when they see many obstacles blocking the way. With pure determination and hard work, you can become anything you desire.

Evaluator Response: 
Although this is a picture book, this book is highly appropriate for use with middle schoolers. Krull includes robust language and detailed depictions of Wilma's struggles as a young girl. Using topics such as poverty, bullying, and disease, this book is a great way to showcase that all people find hardships in their lives. This story could be used in the classroom any many different capacities to enhance learning.

Teacher Response: 
Wilma is from Clarksville, TN, participated in basketball and track in school, and went to Tennessee State University. Many students in my classroom could make a personal connection to Wilma's story. In middle school, students are frequently troubled about their differences and obstacles and hearing about how Wilma overcame adversity could be a strong motivator. As a math teacher, I would read this story to my students, discuss the author's main message, and then use Wilma's running speed as a graphing activity. This would relate Wilma's victory to a math standard.

Literacy Coach Response:
This book would be a great resource for struggling readers and to help create engagement in the classroom. The author uses academically appropriate vocabulary and enhances the reading with detailed illustrations in aide in comprehension. To increase understanding, having a introduction about the struggles for African Americans in the 1950s would help to increase the understanding of Wilma's story. For ELL learners, an introduction to Polio, the disease to forced Wilma to wear leg braces and not participate in sports, would be greatly beneficial. Group discussions around why it was such a feat for Wilma to win an Olympic medal would help those who were missing pieces of the story. This book could be used to spark conversation and exposure to new ideas in all classrooms.