Tiny Jumper: How Tiny Broadwick created the parachute rip cord by Candy Dahl, illustrated by Maithili Joshi

I'm still rather wary of picture book biographies, although I now have an audience for them in my grade schools who do read-alouds. However, if one comes along that is truly unique I will absolutely grab it and this one fits the bill.

There are quite a few biographies of female inventors and aviators, women who fought against the limitations of history, but how many of those came from an impoverished and uneducated background?

Georgia Ann Thompson, nicknamed "Tiny" went to work when she was six, in the fields and factories. When she was 14, she saw a hot-air balloon ascension at the local state fair and determined that she was brave and strong enough to do that, convincing the aeronaut that she would draw more people to his act. She was furious at being billed as a doll and a baby, due to her tiny stature, but jumping from balloons was an amazing thrill. She became a renowned parachutist, continuing despite multiple broken bones and in 1914, at the age of twenty, she started parachuting from planes, the first one to ever do so. She demonstrated pioneering techniques in parachuting that were used by the military as well as the first use of a ripcord.

After retiring at the age of twenty-nine, she was mostly forgotten, although she worked for an aircraft company during WWII and consulted on parachute designs. Starting in the 1950s however, she began receiving awards for her pioneering work until her death in 1978. Back matter gives a simple overview of her early life and includes photographs and other historical references.

The art is colorful and does a good job of capturing Tiny's determined face. Although it's a little clean and tidy for the time period, and for factory work, she is shown disheveled and tired from her work and bruised and injured but with a delighted grin after her jumps.

This works well as a picture book biography in my opinion; it gives just enough, but not too much information. With a few simple words and images, the creators give an idea of what her long days of factory work were like, the exhilaration and danger of her jumps, and a sense of her personality shines through the story in excerpts of her own words. They also managed to refrain from focusing on her personal life, something biographies of women are prone towards. Back matter explains briefly that she was adopted by Charles Broadwick, the showman who first hired her, so they could travel together, but no other details are given.

Verdict: A strong picture book biography that would work both as a read-aloud and an inspiration point for STEM-related programming. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781499813944; Published October 2023 by little bee books; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library