Board Member Ellie Roscher Publishes Picture Book August 9, 2023 By Collegeville Institute Leave a Comment In 2023, Collegeville Institute board member, writing workshop alum, and writing workshop leader Ellie Roscher published her first picture book, Remarkable Rose: the story of a girl in Kenya who used her soccer skills to change people’s minds about what girls could do. Rose Achieng, the real person Remarkable Rose is based on, grew up in Kibera, Kenya. She first played for Girls’ Soccer with Abdul Kassim in 2002, mostly losing games to boys’ teams, since there were no other girls’ teams to play in Kibera. Eventually, though, Rose and her team began winning—and by 2011, she played on Kenya’s winning team in the 2011 Homeless World Cup. Rose’s story is a reminder that entire communities do better when girls thrive. Ellie first met Rose in 2012, when she traveled to Kenya to do research for her second book, Play Like a Girl. She spent two summers doing research, and both Remarkable Rose and Play Like a Girl are based on her conversations with staff and students at Kibera Girls’ Soccer Academy. Jen Larrick, coach of MN Aurora Football Club, writes, “Remarkable Rose gets to the essence of the beautiful game—the joy and freedom of playing soccer.” Shelly Breen, author of Shelly Bean the Sports Queen, also praises the book: “I felt deeply moved by the story and the knowing that children will have this book as an example of what support and perseverance look like with a strong female role model. This is for EVERY child.” Like this post? Subscribe to have new posts sent to you by email the same day they are posted.
