The cartoon-y images belie a thoughtful biography (told as a first-person autobiography) of the tennis star, her rise to the top of the sport, and her fight for gender, socioeconomic, and racial equality.
It also discusses her realization that she was gay. “Being gay means that if you’re a girl you love and have romantic feelings for other girls” (or if a boy, for boys), the fictionalized King tells us. She explains that she “fell in love with a wonderful woman named Ilana” and that “You can’t choose who you fall in love with. Your heart will tell you.” A later page mentions her Presidential Medal of Freedom for, among other things, “being one of the first openly lesbian sports figures” and “using sports to create social change.” I wish they’d either explained “lesbian” here or used “gay” as they did previously, just for clarity for young readers, but overall, this is a delightful take on the sports star and her many accomplishments.
Click the “Watch online” button above to see an even more delightful free video of King reading the book herself.
