Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

It's always good for kids to read about flawed heroes. Nobody really, deep down, wants to read about some guy whose only "flaw" is that they didn't brush their teeth before breakfast.

Althea Gibson, as the title should make clear, has bigger flaws. As a kid, she was a petty thief. She didn't attend class. She stayed out late. And when she was given an opportunity and people fell all over themselves to help her, all she could do is say she didn't come to work on her *manners*, just her *sports*.

She is fun to read about, that's for sure. And the triumph of being the first black person to win a Grand Slam (along with her partner, the first Jewish person to do the same) is sweeter for all that we learn that working on her self control show more helped with that.

There's a nice afterword in the end with more information, including names of her own autobiographies.

The one thing about this book I'm not to sure of is the artwork. Throughout the book, Althea is drawn with a wave of rainbow colors around her and following her. It does convey movement and all... but it also looks a little strange. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. show less

I liked reading this book for many reasons. I found colors of the illustrations in this book to be really interesting. Each time the main character, Althea, is shown in a picture she is surrounded by a watercolor rainbow of colors. This was not only captivating, but also symbolic of her importance to the story. In addition, I also liked the author’s use of repetition in the book. The phrase “she’s nothing but trouble” is repeated after pretty much every major life event that Althea experiences. This use of repetition creates a sense of predictability in the story. The message of this story is with hard work and determination you can achieve your dreams. Althea came from a poor urban family and had to spend years sacrificing her show more time and energy to become a successful tennis player. Eventually her hard work paid off when she became the first African American to win the Wimbledon Title. show less

This is one of the best illustrated books I have seen. I love the water colouring that surrounds Althea in the whole book. It is like her intensity, love for the game and attitude perfectly visualized. I like how she was helped by a jazz musician it blended together and is a fascinating fact about her life.
I like that she is super sassy and does things her own way. She finds out how to harness those feelings to make her a better tennis player. Through that she achieved an amazing feat.

This was a great story about a woman who changed tennis so that African Americans could also be respected in the sport. More than Althea making a difference though I think that this story does a great job of showing what believing in someone can do. Buddy Walker always believed in Althea even when no one else did and that made her want to work harder and be better. I think this would be a great message to share with students that you may not be the person making the biggest difference but you can make a small difference to one person and it still means a lot.

This is an excellent picture book biography. I don't know that it's subject was reflected in such a positive light, but the research was thorough and the writing was strong.

The little girl who everyone saw as a trouble maker became the first African American man or woman to compete in and win the Wimbledon Cup. I know some may not agree but this story is a prime example of it takes a village to raise a child. When others saw Althea, they saw a trouble maker but Buddy Walker saw possibility. He put her in a position to be great and others began to see it as well. Everyone she came in contact with put her in a better position to win.

Before tennis, young Althea was a tomboy from Harlem. She used to play stickball, basketball, she ran fast, skipped class after recess, and played paddle tennis. Everyone would say she is, "nothing but trouble." One day, a local musician noticed she had talent, and so he introduced her to tennis. At first she had problems with how she was supposed to act, but she soon realized having an attitude affected her game. So she learned to use her anger to hit the ball harder, and then went on to win the Wimbledon Cup.