Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea gibson

Who was Althea Gibson? Well, let me shed some light on this with the book Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson written by Sue Stauffacher and illustrated by Greg Couch.

The first sentence in this biographical picture book; “Althea Gibson was the tallest, wildest tomboy in the history of Harlem”, says so much about her character before the story even starts! Althea is a wild child, full of life and color, and ready to play any game. The whole neighborhood says she’s nothing but trouble (in a loving sort of way I’d imagine), however that doesn’t bother her a bit! She’s full of energy and having fun.
Even though everyone else saw her untamed energy as trouble, one man saw through to her full potential, and that was Buddy Walker. After seeing her play paddle tennis on the streets Buddy, though a poor musician, bought her a secondhand tennis racket and encouraged her to play at an actual court. There, others saw her dazzling ability and helped her focus that wild energy into a professional tennis player and win the Wimbledon Cup.

Now, some people may not be impressed by this feat, but for Althea during this time period (the 1950’s) this was an amazing accomplishment. She didn’t just win the Wimbledon Cup, she became the first African American, man or woman, to compete in it and win! During a time of social injustice and racist barriers Althea, with the support of many people, was able to overcome these obstacles and achieve a success she never knew she could reach for.

The illustrations for this book are absolutely wonderful. Throughout the story Althea is surrounded by a whirl of color and movement. I love that there isn’t a single page without these colors, showing that she never changed who she was, she just became more determined.

This is a great inspirational biography for students to read and subtly touches on the theme of racism in a way that could lead to great classroom discussion.