Indelible Ann: The Larger-Than-Life Story of Governor Ann Richards

Gr 4-6–This biography of Ann Richards uses the tone and structure of a tall-tale to pack a lifetime of the legendary Texas activist and politician’s accomplishments and exploits into a picture book length text. Whitt’s beautifully rendered drawings convey an energy and sense of motion that echoes Richards’s dynamic, no-nonsense personality. Browne’s narrative, while struggling to balance the complexity of language needed to convey the ups and downs of a historic political life, does tend to gloss over specific dates and details. Also, as somewhat expected in the telling of a folk heroine’s daring deeds, there’s quite a bit of hyperbolic praise and very little discussion of the low points or missteps of this larger-than-life lady. An afterword offers a more traditional brief biography and an explication of Richards’s impact as a woman of amazing achievements who did a great deal of good for a great many people over the course of her extraordinary life and inspired others to do the same.