Bare feet shouldn't fly.
Long legs shouldn't spin.
Braids shouldn't flap in the wind.
"Sit on the porch and be a lady,"
Papa scolded Alice.

In Alice Coachman's George hometown, there was no field where an African-American girl could do the high jump, so she made her own crossbar with sticks and rags. After seeing her jump at a meet, Coach Cleve Abbott asked Alice to join the Tuskegee Institute's famous Golden Tigerettes. Soon she was winning many medals. But Alice still had a big dream—to compete at the Olympics. No African-American woman had ever won an Olympic Gold. 

At the London Olympics in 1948, Alice was ready to make history.

Ann Malaspina's lyrical free-verse biography will inspire young readers. Eric Velasquez's studding paintings bring this remarkable athlete to life. 

From the dust jacket