Thousands of Iowa and Indiana second graders have been given a free copy of a book about women’s basketball with a heavy focus on WNBA star Caitlin Clark.
Nearly 50,000 children were given the book that features Clark, who was born in the Hawkeye State and attended the University of Iowa, graduating in 2024 as one of college basketball’s most renowned players, Fox News reports.
The books were distributed to children in Iowa and Indianapolis, Indiana, where her pro team, the Indiana Fever, plays.
Ali Obermeier wrote the book “Just Like Caitlin.” It uses Clark in a story about a grandfather and his daughter, who loves basketball.
Every 2nd grader across the state of Iowa received a free ‘Just Like Caitlin’ book as a gift from one of Clark’s former coaches pic.twitter.com/tGbHqBVYMS
— Iowa Chill (@IowaChill) November 14, 2024
“By teaching children this value from a young age, they’ll learn how to work hard and dream big, but also what to do when things don’t turn out as they hoped. As they read about Caitlin’s incredible career, through Just Like Caitlin, children around the world will certainly be inspired by her talent and accomplishments—but more so by the values she places on what’s truly important in life,” a description of the book reads.
Clark, 22, entered women’s pro basketball early this year after the Fever selected her as the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. She quickly became the league’s most celebrated player.
But that was just the first record that Clark broke. She went on to demolish several WNBA records, including scoring the most points by a rookie, single-season WNBA assists record (337), single-game WNBA assists record (19), single-season WNBA points by a point guard record (769), the first rookie in WNBA history to record a triple-double, and nearly ten more.
Every Caitlin Clark record/milestone this season 🤯
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) September 20, 2024
(h/t @Curry_Muse) pic.twitter.com/Hrw4cSD0fh
Unsurprisingly, she also was awarded Rookie Of The Year by the WNBA for her debut season.
Clark was so popular that she single-handedly raised the WNBA’s viewership by 170 percent, averaging 1.19 million viewers over her debut season.
The young player’s latest honor was to appear on the cover of Time magazine as one of the “most inspiring women of the year.”
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