Introducing Sandwina: The Strongest Woman in the World! - Hardcover

by Vicki Conrad (Author), Jeremy Holmes (Illustrator)

A Booklist Editor's Choice
2026-2027 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List

No one believed a woman could be stronger than a man, until Katie Brumbach-also known as Sandwina--displayed her show-stopping feats as a circus strongwoman.

100 pounds . . . 200 pounds . . . 300 pounds! Katie Brumbach became the world's top strongwoman after she ousted Eugen Sandow by lifting hundreds of pounds over her head (which Sandow could barely lift to his shoulders). After that, she took the last name Sandwina and thrived in the circus world--which she had been participating in since the age of two when she first performed with her family. She grew over six feet tall as she got older, but Katie never second-guessed herself, and she trained to build her muscles, always eager to test her skills and try new feats.

After starting a family with a fellow performer, they were eventually signed to work with John Ringling of the Ringling Bros. Circus. Sandwina impressed the crowds by balancing a 1,000-pound cannon on her chest, by throwing a one-ton stone, and by having an iron slab broken on her body--she stole the show!

Author Biography

Vicki Conrad has carved out a space in children's literature with titles that feature strong women in history. She is the author of Just Like Beverly, about the life of Beverly Cleary, and A Voice for the Everglades, which features Margory Stoneman Douglas's activism.

Jeremy Holmes is an award-winning picture book illustrator and professor of art at West Chester University. His debut book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, won the prestigious BolognaRagazzi Opera Prima Award. He also assisted with the creation of the puppets for the Emmy-nominated show The Helpsters on PBS and AppleTV+.