Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail

Abrams Books for Young Readers
(pub. 5.18.2018)
48 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor and illustrator:  Jennifer Thermes

C haracters: Emma Gatewood

O verview from the jacket flap: 
     "With little more than the clothes on her back and a pair of thin canvas sneakers on her feet, Emma 'Grandma' Gatewood left her small town in Ohio and set off for a walk. She ended up walking the entire Appalachian Trail.
     In 1955, at the age of sixty-seven, Grandma Gatewood became the first woman to hike the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail alone. She was also the first person to complete it three times! From Georgia to Maine, Gatewood braved dangerous storms and wild animals, but she also experienced the kindness of strangers and witnessed the vast beauty of America's longest footpath.
    Told through dramatic illustrations and intricate map work, Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail is a story of true grit and resilience and a testament to never giving up at any age.

T antalizing taste: 
     

     "The trail ran over hills, across streams, alongside roads, and through small towns. At times, the woods felt like a long green tunnel. Sometimes Emma lost her way, but even without a map, she always found it back again.
     Some mountain farmers didn't know what to make of Emma, with her hair like a wild woman after days and nights on the trail. But most gave her supper and a cozy place to sleep. She often found the kindliest welcome from the poorest of families...
     Emma scrambled up and down steep hills carved by glaciers that had melted millions of years ago. The trail wasn't quite as easy as that magazine article had said.
     'For some fool reason they always lead you right up over the biggest rock to the top of the biggest mountain they can find,' said Emma." 
      
and something more: The NOTES at the back of Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail explains that "Born on October 25, 1887, Emma married young and raised eleven children on the family farm in Gallia County, Ohio. It was not a happy marriage. After many years, Emma divorced her husband.
     One day, while waiting in a doctor's office, Emma read about the Appalachian Trail in an old issue of National Geographic from 1949. The article made it sound like an easy walk, and since no woman had ever hiked the entire trail solo, she decided to give it a try....
      Emma walked twelve to sixteen miles a day - and sometimes more - and wore through five pairs of canvas sneakers. She changed from a skirt to trousers after brambles scratched her legs. Hurricane Connie hit the East Coast hard that year, but other than getting soaked, it didn't slow Emma down much When she finished after four and a half months of walking, Emma had lost thirty pounds, and her feet had grown larger by one size.

     She became something of a celebrity. Local newspapers from towns along the trail wrote articles about her, and she was interviewed by a reporter from a brand-new magazine called Sports Illustrated."