Miss Mary Reporting

The True Story of
Sportswriter Mary Garber

A Paula Wiseman Book
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
(published 2.16.2016) 40 pages 

A True Tale
with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Sue Macy
      and Illustrator: C.F. Payne

C haracter: Mary Garber

O verview from the jacket flap: 

    "Press Box: Women and Children Not Admitted. 
    So read the press pass that Mary Garber had to wear as a reporter at sporting events. It was embarrassing, even insulting, but in the 1940s, sports - and sports reporting - was a man's world.
     Mary didn't let that top her. She never let anything stop her, really. As a kid, she played quarterback for her local football team. Later, as a reporter, she dug in her heels and built up her own sports beat. For close to fifty years, Mary shined the spotlight on local heroes whose effort might otherwise have gone unnoticed. 'That's Miss Mary Garber,' one boy said at a soapbox derby. 'And she doesn't care who you are, or where you're from, or what you are. If you do something, she's going to write about you.'
     This is the story of a woman who pursued her dream and changed the world."
     
T antalizing taste: 
     
    "Jackie [Robinson] became a role model for Mary. She was inspired by his quiet dignity in the face of taunts and jeers from people who couldn't accept a black man in the major leagues.
     'There's no getting around the fact that Robinson met these challenging days with maturity and courage,' she would write in 1956. 'It takes guts to keep your mouth shut and walk away. It is against every normal reaction of human behavior. But Robinson did it.'
     Mary had to endure her own share of slights and struggles."

and something more: In the Acknowledgements of Miss Mary Reporting, Sue Macy explains that when she headed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to research the story at the Forsyth County Public Library, she met "the librarian, Fambrough 'Fam' Brownlee, a fount of local history knowledge. Fam was a wonderful guide and a valued witness, as he played high school sports when he was young and knew Miss Mary." Isn't that a terrific research connection?