Amanda Quartey | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD – Writer for Children

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends! I’m so very excited about today’s featured book BECAUSE I know the author and met her at a conference TEN YEARS AGO and I got to see the manuscript before it became a book!!! That’s always fun, right? And the story is especially relevant today because it touches on racial and religious discrimination – and ALLYSHIP!

PERFECT MATCH

Written by Lori Dubbin

Illustrated by Amanda Quartey

Published by Kar Ben Publishing (September 10, 2024)

Ages: 6-11

Themes: Discrimination, courage, tennis

Synopsis: From Amazon:
When Althea Gibson first dreamed of joining the big American tennis leagues, she was denied because she was Black. Angela Buxton dreamed of joining the best tennis clubs in Britain, but she was rejected because she was Jewish. When Angela heard that Althea was coming to Britain to compete, she skipped school to see the match. If Althea didn’t let hatred stop her from playing the game she loved, Angela wouldn’t either.

At the French Championships in 1956, Angela told Althea about her dream of winning Wimbledon with a doubles partner. To win as a team, they would have to stick to their strengths―together.

Why I Love This Book:
1. I love that this is a true story about two women who encouraged and supported each other – and proved to the world that allyship wins over racial and religious discrimination!
2. I love the well-written text – filled with action and suspense – and lots of heart!
3. I love the lively illustrations that help bring the story to life and help connect the reader with the characters!

The book has received wonderful reviews, including being a Junior Library Guild Selection.

And guess what!! Author Dubbin and illustrator Quartey stopped by to chat with us and share a little bit about the story behind the story…and I know we all love that!
Welcome, Lori and Amanda!

LORI: In writing PERFECT MATCH, I found it harder to write about two people instead of just one. I wanted to be able to give Althea and Angela the same amount of time and space in the manuscript…as much as I could. It took a while to find just the right balance for two main characters. Althea and Angela were seven years apart and Althea was already playing in tournaments when Angela was still in high school. I finally figured out I needed to show glimpses of each of them separately, bring them together when they met on tour, and then keep Althea and Angela’s friendship and doubles partnership front and center. That’s when I finally started to hear “the ping of the ball in the racquet’s sweet spot” in the manuscript.

Then during the production stage of the book, I was delighted when I saw Amanda’s illustrations. She captures both players beautifully and takes the heart of the story to another level – by highlighting the warmth of Althea and Angela’s friendship and emphasizing the power of their partnership on the court.

AMANDA: Perfect match challenge
The most challenging part of working on this project was coming up with the initial illustrations for the book. As someone who is not the most familiar with tennis and its history, I made sure to do as much research as possible before hand on both Angela and Althea in order to simulate their real life friendship. While working on ‘Perfect Match’ I was enlightened to many tennis facts which I was not formerly aware of – like the fact that tennis balls used to be white!

It’s fascinating to know that even with the many challenges that pop up on the path to publication, in the end, there will be a beautiful book!

Here’s a little bit about the author:
Lori Dubbin is a writer and former early childhood educator. She enjoys researching and writing about people just outside the framework of history who have made extraordinary contributions to the world and who model kindness, compassion, and perseverance for young readers. When Lori isn’t researching or writing, she likes taking walks, solving crossword puzzles, and reading with her grandson. Her children’s picture book, Perfect Match, The Story of Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton is a Junior Library Guild Selection.
Twitter/X: @LoriDubbin
Website: loridubbin.com

And here’s a little bit about the illustrator:
Amanda was born and bred in London. At the age of 14 she moved to Ghana and studied art at school and later returned to the UK to study graphic design. Her artistic path deviated slightly when she studied Classics at University; and then later started working in finance. But over the years, in a bid to return to her artistic roots, Amanda has built a professional illustration portfolio and is now loving every bit of her illustration career!

And here’s a few ways we can help this important book succeed:
We can buy a copy
We can review the book
We can place the book on our Goodreads Want to Read Shelf
We can tell friends about it (please share this post on your social media)
We can ask our local library to purchases copies for their collection

Thank you all for spending your precious time here with us. Just like Althea and Angela, we can support and encourage each other through challenging times, sharing light, love, and laughter.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hurray for new books in the pipeline!!! And what a joy to be able to give a cover reveal shout-out to a book written by a long-time kid-lit friend, Lori Dubbin. Lori and I met at a conference back in 2015 – and I couldn’t be happier that I get a chance to help her celebrate.

Now, here’s a cover that’s filled with action – illustrator Amanda Quartey did such an amazing job that I’m ducking my head in case the ball comes my way! And her color palette is so vibrant…I love it!

Here’s a little bit about the book from the Amazon sales page:
When Althea Gibson first dreamed of joining the big American tennis leagues, she was denied because she was Black. Angela Buxton dreamed of joining the best tennis clubs in Britain, but she was rejected because she was Jewish. When Angela heard that Althea was coming to Britain to compete, she skipped school to see the match. If Althea didn’t let hatred stop her from playing the game she loved, Angela wouldn’t either. At the French Championships in 1956, Angela told Althea about her dream of winning Wimbledon with a doubles partner. To win as a team, they would have to stick to their strengths together. And they did.

We are fortunate that Lori stopped by to chat – I asked her how the story came to be:

LORI: Writing a picture book may appear to take only 500-900-ish words, but it takes thousands of words of revision along with patience, sweat, and tears to get a picture book to publication. I started writing Perfect Match in 2015 (it had a different title then) after I opened an old nonfiction book, Great Jews in Sports by Robert Slater, which had been a Bar Mitzvah gift to my oldest son. I landed on a page about a British tennis player, Angela Buxton. There was a picture of Angela in her tennis outfit and the text mentioned her doubles partner had been Althea Gibson. Right away, I wanted to know more about this duo. Sadly, I learned Althea and Angela were treated as outsiders by the elite tennis world of the 1950s because of their race and religion.
But these two women just wanted to play the game they loved. They became close friends and doubles partners, and together they defied the prejudices of the time with dedication, teamwork, and perseverance.

I so admired their perseverance and hard work, and learned – on a much different level – how I needed to persevere in communicating their story. The process of writing this manuscript took sixty-something revisions, five title changes, and eight more years to get to publication.

We all know the path is hard. There are rewarding days and days when that positive energy turns in the opposite direction. Staying connected to other writers and illustrators through 12×12 webinars, writers’ blogs, and my critique group helped me keep moving forward. I realize now I was improving as a writer and learning my craft, which allowed me not to worry about how many years were whooshing by me. Keep learning and keep at it – one day an agent or an editor will love the manuscript that is such a part of your heart.

I love the way the illustrator, Amanda Quartey, captured Althea and Angela’s highs and lows, their action on the tennis court, and their friendship on the page.

Althea and Angela’s story is relevant to what’s happening in the world today, and it feels like the right time for it to enter the world.

WOW! Thank you so much, Lori! Those are important insights…thank you so much for sharing them.

And dear readers, I’m going to share how we can help upcoming books like PERFECT MATCH become a perfect success:
We can buy it
We can review it
We can put it on our Goodreads WANT TO READ shelf
We can tell friends about it (share on social media, please)
We can ask our local library to purchase copies for their collection

I’ve already put it on my Goodreads Want To Read Shelf…and I’m sharing this post on my social media and will request my local library buy it.
How can you help?

I hope you all have a fabulous week! This past weekend was my birthday (77) and I’m so excited that the my Facebook Birthday Fundraiser for the Stuart Kirkfield Scholarship at Highlights is 79% funded! Woo-hoo! If you’d like to join in, please check it out – there are 3 more days and any amount of support is appreciated: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1108264050308830/1113485846453317