Twice as Good

June 1, 2012

K-Gr 3-For third-grader Willie Powell, the new golf course was a beautiful sight. One day, he approached two white golfers and asked the kinder looking of the men to teach him to play. His reply was, "Son, didn't anyone ever tell you that your kind is not welcome here?" "Of course, Willie knew he was different. He was the only Negro in his class." Awhile later he returned to the course and ran into one of the men he'd met earlier. This time he agreed to let Willie carry his clubs. The youngster remembered the words of his principal, "If you are going to get ahead in this world, Willie, you can't be as good as the white children; you have to be twice as good." As he caddied and earned a little money, he also studied the game. Later, while in the army, he was stationed in England where "no one seemed to think golf was a game for whites only." Three years later, he returned to the United States and noticed that his daughter had "the grip of a champion golfer," and he was determined that one day there would be a course where she could play. In 1948, he opened the Clearview Golf Club in Ohio. Velasquez's large illustrations, often full spreads, capture the sense of time in soft, pastel shades of green, blue, brown, yellow, and pink. An inspirational story, suitable for Black History Month and for children interested in the game of golf.-Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
Despite growing up in a community that was racially segregated, William Powell persisted in playing the game he loved, golf. Young Willie could only caddy on the golf course near his Ohio home, although one white man did let him play. Returning home after World War II from England, where he golfed as much as possible, William was barred from the local greens, denied membership in the whites-only (until 1961) PGA and turned down for financing from the GI loan program. Nonetheless, he found a piece of land where, with private financing, he designed and built the first integrated golf course in the United States. Clearview opened in 1948 and is now a National Historic Site. When his daughter was born, he designed a golf club just for her. Michelson, the author of As Good As Anybody (illustrated by Raul Colón, 2008), has written a straight-forward narrative spiced throughout with inspirational thoughts. At one point, Willie's principal tells him that in order to succeed he must be "twice as good" as the white children. Velasquez, the award-winning illustrator, paints his figures in linear poses that are unfortunately more static than active. A useful title in which young readers can gain an appreciation of a ground-breaking African-American sports figure. (author's note) (Picture book/biography. 5-10)

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February 1, 2012
Grades 2-4 William Powell fell in love with golf as a young boy in Canton, Ohio, in the 1930s, but as an African American, there were no courses on which he was allowed to play. That changed during WWII, when Powell found golf courses in England open to all races. Back in the U.S. after the warand still largely banned from the gamehe vowed to design and build his own course, a true public links open to all. Clearview Golf Club opened in 1946 in Canton and remains the only course in the country owned by an African American (Powell's children are now in charge). Michelson's crisp telling of this genuinely inspirational story drives home the point that, in order to realize his dream, Powell needed to be twice as good as his white counterparts. Award-winning illustrator Velasquez bathes his evocative art in lush greens, the perfect visual symbol of Powell's belief that, at Clearview, the only color that matters is the color of the greens. This remarkable story of the man who made the fairways fair is too little known, even among followers of golf history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)