August 26th marks Women’s Equality Day in the
United States, when we celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the
Constitution, giving white women the right to vote. (Note: it took many more
years before women of color were guaranteed that same right). This is an ideal day
to celebrate the newly released picture book biography BILLIE JEAN! HOW TENNIS STAR BILLIE JEAN CHANGED WOMEN'S SPORTS by Mara Rockliff and beautifully illustrated
by Elizabeth Baddeley that introduces young readers to this iconic tennis
player.
Rockliff, author of several historical books for children, offers
a glimpse into Billie Jean’s life from childhood, through her rise in the tennis
ranks and winning numerous major championships, to her historic televised “Battle
of the Sexes” match with Bobby Riggs and forming an all-women’s tennis tour. A common
theme throughout? Not accepting “no” for an answer when it came to playing the
sport she loved or fighting for women’s rights and equal pay. Readers trying to
break the habit of cursing might take a cue from Billie Jean. When she was
miffed or missed a drop shot, she would call out “peanut butter!” It’s
noteworthy that Rockliff highlights the value of training hard to win over the
emphasis of looking pretty in addition to unbalanced media coverage with different
questions directed to male competitors compared to athletes like Billie Jean. Both
still occur.
The back matter includes an Author’s Note with specific statistics
(she won 39 Grand Slam Championships); dates (1973 was the year the US Open Tennis
Championship offered men and women equal prize money); and personal information
(she and Olympic swimmer Donna De Varona founded the Women’s Sports Foundation
and she also came out as gay in the 1980s).
This delightful, important picture book is a reminder that
ensuring equality does not happen overnight, but thanks to leadership from athlete/activists
like Billie Jean King, much progress has been made. It’s also a timely book
choice to tie into the US Open Tennis Championship which occurs every
August/September.
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