Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds

“In America you can achieve anything if you set your heart to it.” These inspiring words are repeated throughout the book Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds—The Sammy Lee Story by Paula Yoo. In this picture book biography about the Olympic medal winning diver, Sammy Lee, Yoo relates the experiences of a young Korean boy whose parents moved to America for a better life. Sammy experiences the hardships of being non-white in the 1930s and 1940s and is faced with discrimination daily. Despite the biases shown him, Sammy decides that he wants to be a diver and works hard to achieve his dream. In addition to becoming an Olympic gold medalist, Sammy also becomes a doctor, his father’s dream for his life. Although Sammy’s father did not live to see him win the gold medal, his words—“In America you can achieve anything if you set your heart to it”—echoed in his ears and in his heart throughout the rest of his life.

Paula Yoo brings Sammy Lee’s passion for diving into this biography of a great American. I loved the illustrations by Dom Lee and Paula Yoo’s exceptional writing style made me feel the frustration of the young boy who grew up to achieve great things. This Bluebonnet Award nominated book is a wonderful read for boys and girls alike and will cause all of us to cheer when Sammy achieves his lifelong ambition of becoming an Olympic diver. Thank goodness that “In America you can achieve anything if you set your heart to it”.

I would recommend this book for students in grades 2-5.

Key words associated with this book: diver, Olympics, Korean-Americans, courage

a>