The Strongest Woman in the World!
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Calkins Creek
(pub.12.3.2024)
48 pages
Ages 7 - 10
Author: Vicki Conrad
Illustrator: Jeremy Holmes
Character: Sandwina (Katie Brumbach)
Overview:
" 100 pounds . . . 200 pounds . . . 300 pounds! Katie Brumbach became the world’s top strongwoman after she ousted Eugen Sandow by lifting hundreds of pounds over her head (which Sandow could barely lift to his shoulders).
After that, she took the last name Sandwina and thrived in the circus world—which she had been participating in since the age of two when she first performed with her family. She grew over six feet tall as she got older, but Katie never second-guessed herself, and she trained to build her muscles, always eager to test her skills and try new feats.
After starting a family with a fellow performer, they were eventually signed to work with John Ringling of the Ringling Bros. Circus. Sandwina impressed the crowds by balancing a 1,000-pound cannon on her chest, by throwing a one-ton stone, and by having an iron slab broken on her body—she stole the show!"
Tantalizing taste:
"Never a circus freak, always a circus star.
Sandwina proved strength was beauty, and beauty was strength. Katie's bold costumes showed off every muscle. With her hair piled high and in high-heeled boots to make herself look even taller, she glowed with feminine charm."
And something more: The author, Vicki Conrad, shared in A Writer's Inspiration: "Katie... changed society's ideas of beauty, simply by embracing who she was born to be. A titaness - strength and beauty combined. Katie was a powerful changemaker and an inspiration... It is so hard to be different, but Katie loved herself, and the world loved her, too. My dream is that girls will see their bodies a useful, beautiful, and worthy. Just like the like unstoppable Sandwina."
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