A sporting chance: How Ludwig Guttman created the Paralympic Games by Lori Alexander, illustrated by Allan Drummond

  The story opens dramatically, with a soldier, Reg Townsend, in WWII struck by shrapnel and paralyzed. He is left alone in a hospital ward, encased in plaster, and called "incurable." Return to the past, shortly before WWI, and Ludwig Guttmann, born in Germany near Poland, was growing up amidst prejudice against Jewish people. After various experiences during the war, he pursued the study of medicine and eventually became a specialist in nervous system injuries and surgeries.

After he escaped from Germany, amidst the increased persecution of Jews leading up to WWII, he settled in England. Despite continued prejudice against Jews, and now Germans as well, Guttmann continued to work and was eventually put in charge of soldiers with spinal injuries, those other doctors considered incurable and waiting to die.

Guttmann, drawing on his own experience with treating patients and later research, made dramatic changes. He took patients out of their full-body plaster casts, rejected surgeries that usually ended in death, and started physical therapy. As he gave his patients hope and a chance to regain a life, he fought against the medical and societal stigmas against paraplegia and proved that these patients were not "incurable." A major breakthrough was allowing them to participate and adapt sports, which led to the creation of the Paralympic Games, eventually spreading from England to Europe, and then to become an international event.

Throughout the book, medical details of spinal injuries and their treatment throughout time as well as cultural and societal attitudes are included. The final chapter profiles some famous Paralympic athletes. Back matter includes a timeline, notes, index, bibliography, and credits. The book includes many photographs, but also Drummond's watercolor cartoons. I'm not sure they're the ideal selection for the book, as they often seem to be too light-hearted for the sometimes grim events of the war and injured soldiers. The book is laid out in chapter book style, but a little larger than average, 10x7 inches.

Verdict: An accessible and interesting look at a little-known, but pivotal person in the world of medicine and disability rights. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781328580795; Published April 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Borrowed from another library in my consortium