Sadly, in 2004, Canadian star athlete Bobbie Rosenfeld is no longer a household name. Anne Dublin’s well-written and informative biography creates a compelling portrait of this influential but largely forgotten figure. It chronicles as well the history of women’s sports and amateur athletics in our country, making a text that, like Rosenfeld, does a number of things well.

Rosenfeld, as the book’s subtitle suggests, was an all-round athlete who excelled at several sports, including track and field, ice hockey, and softball. She represented Canada at the 1928 Olympics, where she won gold and silver medals. Renowned for her sense of humour as well as her sportsmanship, she was voted Female Athlete of the Half-Century in 1950. After the premature end of her athletic career due to crippling arthritis, Rosenfeld wrote a popular sports column for The Globe and Mail, where she was the only woman on the sports staff.

Toronto writer Dublin sets Rosenfeld’s story against the tumultuous international events of the early 20th century, providing important context for Rosenfeld’s challenges as an athlete, woman, and Jew in Canada. Because of the easy style of Dublin, who never talks down to her audience, this book can be read by children aged nine and up, but will also be enjoyed by adult fans of sports, history, and biography. The text’s layout introduces the only problems: trivia float in grey-toned sidebars, which have become de rigueur in children’s non-fiction. Many of these facts are interesting, but without titles to explain their relevance, they run the risk of confusing or distracting.