By  Chloe Dalton & Kim Siew

Reviewed by Margarite Igras

Elite Australian athlete Chloe Dalton is the founder of The [Female] Athlete Project, an online platform for increasing the visibility of women in sport.  She discovered that after each four year Olympic and Paralympic cycle, her sports idols were seldom seen on TV or in the media. Her passion to share the achievements of our top female athletes lead her to collaborate with Kim Siew on this bold 64-page picture book. It features 26 of Australia’s top athletes, presented in alphabetical order, beginning with A for the tennis legend Ash Barty and ending with Z for Zali Steggall, Australia’s internationally successful alpine skier.

 

 

Each athlete is presented on a double page, with their name in large font. There is licence taken in the alphabetical order, such as Jessica FoX, and Alicia (Quirk) Lucas, which was cleverly done, followed by a short succinct outline of their sporting achievements and a full-page captured moment in their specific sport.

Kim Siew loves to scale large city buildings to paint her drawings, and this comes across in her powerful, book illustrations. Each athlete is presented in an action pose with a detailed background of texture, colour and patterns that could easily embellish a large building wall.

There is additional Awe-inspiring to amaZing facts at the back of the book, as well as information about the author and illustrator and a dedication that reads To all the little kids sitting on the couch watching their idols on TV, this book is for you.

A book that will appeal to sporty kids from ages 7 to 12.

A & U Children 2024