Sayantani DasGupta - She Persisted: Virginia Apgar

PHILOMEL BOOKS

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

First published in the United States of America by Philomel,

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021.

Text copyright 2021 by Chelsea Clinton.

Illustrations copyright 2021 by Alexandra Boiger.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: DasGupta, Sayantani, author. | Flint, Gillian, illustrator.

Title: She persisted : Virginia Apgar / written by Dr. Sayantani DasGupta; interior illustrations by Gillian Flint.

Other titles: Virginia Apgar

Description: New York : Philomel Books, 2021. | Series: She persisted | Includes bibliographical references. | Audience: Ages 69 | Audience: Grades 23 | Summary: A biography of Virginia Apgar in the She Persisted seriesProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020047612 | ISBN 9780593115770 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593115787 (paperback) | ISBN 9780593115794 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Apgar, Virginia, 1909-1974Juvenile literature. | AnesthesiologistsUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. | Women physiciansUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. | PhysiciansUnited StatesBiography.

Classification: LCC RD80.62.A64 D37 2021 | DDC 617.9/6092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047612

HC ISBN 9780593115770

PB ISBN 9780593115787

Ebook ISBN 9780593115794

Edited by Jill Santopolo.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

pid_prh_5.6.1_139291231_c0_r0

To my fellow woman physician writers, we who live at the intersection of the stethoscope and the pen.

She Persisted: HARRIET TUBMAN

She Persisted: CLAUDETTE COLVIN

She Persisted: SALLY RIDE

She Persisted: VIRGINIA APGAR

She Persisted: NELLIE BLY

She Persisted: SONIA SOTOMAYOR

She Persisted: FLORENCE GRIFFITH JOYNER

She Persisted: RUBY BRIDGES

She Persisted: CLARA LEMLICH

She Persisted: MARGARET CHASE SMITH

She Persisted: MARIA TALLCHIEF

She Persisted: HELEN KELLER

She Persisted: OPRAH WINFREY

Dear Reader,

As Sally Ride and Marian Wright Edelman both powerfully said, You cant be what you cant see. When Sally Ride said that, she meant that it was hard to dream of being an astronaut, like she was, or a doctor or an athlete or anything at all if you didnt see someone like you who already had lived that dream. She especially was talking about seeing women in jobs that historically were held by men.

I wrote the first She Persisted and the books that came after it because I wanted young girlsand children of all gendersto see women who worked hard to live their dreams. And I wanted all of us to see examples of persistence in the face of different challenges to help inspire us in our own lives.

Im so thrilled now to partner with a sisterhood of writers to bring longer, more in-depth versions of these stories of womens persistence and achievement to readers. I hope you enjoy these chapter books as much as I do and find them inspiring and empowering.

And remember: If anyone ever tells you no, if anyone ever says your voice isnt important or your dreams are too big, remember these women. They persisted and so should you.

Warmly,

Chelsea Clinton

CHAPTER 1

A Busy Bee

Virginia Ginnie Apgar was born on June 7, 1909, in Westfield, New Jersey, into a family that, in her own words, never sat down. This go-go-go quality would define the rest of her amazing life.

Virginias father, Charles Apgar, was a salesmanof cars and insurance. But Charless real love was inventing things. He spent hours doing experiments on radio waves with his wireless telegraph and building his own telescope in his basement laboratory. He also taught Virginia to read when she was only three years old. Reading was a family passion for the Apgars, as was music. Virginia started taking violin lessons when she was six, and she and her older brother Lawrence played family concerts with their parents.

Due to Charles often changing jobs, the Apgar family was not very well off. They lived modestly, and sometimes had to take paying lodgers who rented rooms in their home to make ends meet. Yet, as a family friend once noted, [The family had] the respect... of all who know them.

Even though Virginia never met a woman physician when she was young, she knew she wanted to study medicine from a very early age. Her friend Joan Beck remembers, She always told interviewers she couldnt remember a time in her life when she wasnt intent on going into medicine. Maybe she was inspired by her fathers amateur scientific work. Maybe she was motivated by the stories she heard about her eldest brother, who died from a disease called tuberculosis before she was born. Or maybe she was inspired by her older brother Lawrence, who suffered from chronic eczema, an itchy skin condition that needed many doctor appointments throughout his life.

Virginias busy high school schedule shows that her life as a fast talker, fast thinker and fast mover started early on. One of her senior yearbook quotes reads, Time was precious to her and her mind and hands were never still. Virginia was a member of the orchestra, debate club, basketball team, tennis and track teams. She collected stamps, taught herself Greek and was interested in higher mathematics. She was an excellent science student, but didnt do well in home economicsa class that many high schoolers, especially girls, used to have to take to learn cooking, cleaning, ironing and sewing. Supposedly, Virginia never learned to cook, and later in her life, she would be quoted as saying that she never married because I havent found a man who can cook.

In her yearbook, next to her senior picture, another quote reads The industry of the bee is second only to that of Virginia... Frankly, how does she do it? And guess who, in the class catalogue, was elected most studious? Thats right! Our own Ginnie Apgar!