Reviews of Bobbie
Rosenfeld: The Olympian Who Could Do Everything
Amazon.com, Apr
7, 2005
Wonderful, engaging biography! This biography is a work of art: it's tough
to blend this much biographical data, anecdotes, photos, and clippings into a
coherent and interesting story. Yet, teacher-librarian-author Dublin has done
just that; the book is engaging enough to pull in even reluctant young
researchers. Kids who are sports fans will find it particularly interesting and
inspirational, as Rosenfeld was an amazing athlete who had a wonderful sense of
humor, team work, and fair play. The text is rich in ethnic (Rosenfeld was a
Russian Jew) and feminist themes, as well. Book has T of C, timeline,
suggestions for further reading, bibliography, and index. – E. Fox
Quill & Quire,
July 2004
Sadly, in 2004, Canadian star
athlete Bobbie Rosenfeld is no longer a household name.
The Globe and Mail,
June 19, 2004
At the age of 19, she defeated the
world record holder in the 100-metre dash at the Canadian National Exhibition;
the next year, she won the Toronto Ladies Grass Courts tennis singles
championship; the year after that, she won five gold and two silver medals in
the Ontario Ladies Track and Field Championships; in 1928, at the Amsterdam
Olympic Games, she led her 4 x 100 relay team to a gold medal, won a silver in
the 100-metre race, and came fifth in the 800-metre race. In 1931, she was
voted the outstanding woman hockey player in
The Toronto Star,
July 4, 2004
"Would all this ballyhoo of
leathery limbs, flat chests and physical injury be a direct result of male
resentment to the female intrusion of their athletic circle?" So
challenged Olympic athlete Bobbie Rosenfeld in Chatelaine in 1933. One of
Dublin traces Rosenfeld's path from her birth in the Ukraine to her family's arrival in Canada, describes her natural athleticism and triumphs in individual and team sports, and gives an expansive account of the results of the "Matchless Six," the Canadian women's team at the first Olympics that admitted women. Woven with Rosenfeld's life are chapters on relevant social matters — "Canada in the 1920s," '30s, '40s and '50s.
Indeed, this reads as much as a social history of Ontario as biography, with Rosenfeld woman, Jew and athlete — as a rallying point. Public opposition to women's sports, Canadian anti-Semitism, the changing roles of women in the workforce, all were part of her times…. -- Deirdre Baker
Jewish Book World, Fall 2004
Like all good biographies, this is more than just the life of its subject, Canadian Olympian Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld. It is also a social history of women in sports in Canada. And it gives a flavor of the times by noting in sidebars many of the inventions, innovations and events that occurred during Rosenfeld’s life.
The clarity and vigor of the writing is matched by an excellent format, with ample leading, many black and white photographs, text boxes that add information and context to the main text.
Dublin tells an engaging and
exciting real-life story. Elementary and middle school readers, boys as well as
girls, will find it both interesting and inspiring. Highly recommended for ages
11-14.
–
AJL Newsletter, June
16, 2004
With clear, concise writing, an
easy, conversational tone, relevant and helpful text boxes and interesting
photographs and illustrations,
CM Magazine Vol. XI
No. 1, Sep 3, 2004
****/4
If Bobbie Rosenfeld hadn't existed,
she would have to be invented.
Highly Recommended.
The Canadian Ethnic
Studies Journal, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2004
Though recommended for ages nine
and up, Bobbie Rosenfeld is in many ways better written and organized (and more
thoughtful and informative) than recent academic articles such as one in The Journal of Sport History 26.2
(Summer 1999). The many photos and paratextual
background factoids provided by
Booklist,
If Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld had been an American male athlete, libraries would already have plenty of information about her. Born in the Ukraine in 1903 or 1904, Rosenfeld immigrated with her Jewish family to Canada in 1905. She became a star player in ice hockey and softball and excelled in tennis and track and field, leading the Canadian women's relay team to an Olympic gold medal and winning a silver one in the 100-meter event in 1928. When arthritis ended her athletic career, Rosenfeld coached women's track and field and became a distinguished sports writer for the Toronto Globe and Mail. Dublin supplies pertinent historical background on such topics as the Russian political climate in 1905, and she sprinkles many of Rosenfeld's very funny quips throughout the narrative. Filled with clear, captioned photographs; boxed facts; and period newspaper headlines, this first-rate biography will supplement women's history studies and collections. -- Linda Perkins
Resource Links, June
2004, (Vol. 9, No. 5)
In addition to creating a highly
readable narrative,
VOYA, Feb 2005 (Vol.
27, No. 6)