This is the second picture-book biography of Alice Coachman I’ve read in the last year, and though very different, they’re both fabulous in their own way.  This one has the advantage of offering the reader more detailed information about this inspiring woman who beat all kinds of odds to become the first African-American woman to win Olympic gold in 1948, from the poverty in which she was raised, to the societal prejudices against both blacks and women, to the cancellation of the 1944 Olympics during WWII.  When she finally did get her chance, it was an amazingly close contest.