Daniel James Brown
Reading Level W
I have always been a voracious consumer of the Olympics. I watch, I marvel, I cheer, I become inspired. Every four years the broadcast stations look back at the games' highlights. I recall watching the 1976 Olympics and seeing the familiar shots of the Berlin Olympics, complete with Jessie Owens deflating an overzealous Adolf Hitler. It was during the Montreal Olympics that my dad told me we had an Olympian as a neighbor. And not just any Olympian, a gold medalist. You see, Mr. White, who at the age of around sixty and to me seemed as ancient as they come, was a member of the 1936 rowing team that won gold in Berlin. I thought that was pretty cool, which is high regards from a 12-year-old. Later, on the banks of Lake Carnegie in Princeton, I watched friends row and marveled at how they had the will and stamina.
When the original Boys in the Boat was published, I devoured the book. Mostly focused on the life of Joe Rantz, the book read like the best fiction I'd ever encountered. The unbelievably bad treatment at the hands of his family and Rantz's determination to succeed took me back to my Olympic viewing experiences -- I read, I marveled, I cheered, I was inspired. The vivid pictures the author, Daniel Brown, paints about life during the depression and the pain endured in a shell transports the reader to another time and dimension.
This summer, my teacher book group decided to read the young readers adaptation. How ecstatic I am that this book was adapted for younger readers. It contains all the essential messages from the adult version -- perseverance, ingenuity, teamwork, friendship -- with descriptive and approachable language. Even though I already knew the story, I couldn't help but cheer for the 1936 crew all over again.
When I think of the connections to Winnetka, I think of how fortunate we are to be close to facilities for rowers. Even though I don't have a shell, I do have access to a kayak now and then -- hence this picture on a sunny day.
