Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story

Summary of Book

Profiles the childhood dreams and realities of the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal, achieved in the 10-meter platform diving event in 1948.

Author Biography

Paula Yoo is an author, screenwriter, and musician. Her latest YA non-fiction book From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement (Norton Young Readers/W.W. Norton & Co. Publication Date: April 20, 2021) won the 2021 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. It is also a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and has received 5 *Starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, ALA/Booklist, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal. Her other books include the YA novel Good Enough (HarperCollins 2008), an Asian/Pacific American Award for Youth Literature honor book, and the IRA Notable picture book biographies Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story, Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story, and Twenty-two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank from Lee & Low Books. She has also written three books for Lee & Low’s “Confetti Kids” early reader series and has a chapter book series coming out in 2022 from Lee & Low. As a TV writer/producer, her credits range from NBC’s The West Wing to The CW’s Supergirl, and she has sold multiple TV pilots and feature scripts. She is also a former journalist (The Seattle Times, The Detroit News, and PEOPLE Magazine). She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English, an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College, where she was the recipient of the Larry Levis Fiction Fellowship. When she’s not writing, Paula is a professional freelance violinist who has played and toured with orchestras and such national recording acts as No Doubt, Il Divo, Fun, and Love. Website: https://paulayoo.com

Illustrator Biography

[ 이 담 ]Dom Lee was born in Seoul, Korea. He received his BFA in Painting from the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University in Korea. In 1990,he moved to the United States and graduated from the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. As a fine artist, he held numerous exhibitions in both Korea and the United States. Dom also works as a free-lance illustrator. His artworks can be found in children’s books, book jackets, magazines, and various other products.