Babe Didrikson Zaharias: Driven to Win

by Nancy Wakeman

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822549174
• ISBN13: 9780822549178
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Lerner Publications
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

Greatest Female Athlete of the Half-Century

Wakeman uses many of the same resources and photographs as the Freedman biography, Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion. Though she adds little new information about one of the greatest women athletes of the world, she writes competently and begins with the 1932 Olympics at which Babe won two gold medals for the javelin throw and the 80-meter hurdles, and a silver medal in the high jump. Mastering nearly every sport she attempted including basketball, baseball, and bowling, Babe's career continued as an amateur and professional golfer until it tragically ended with her death at age 45. Because her fiercely competitive spirit and swaggering self-confidence was unusual in a woman during the first half of the 20th century, Babe became a legend in sports, paving the way for future women athletes. This is a useful addition to sports biographies and women's history.