Tahira and the Double Dutch Dream

The ropes are spinning. The girls are jumping. And Tahira is eager to learn. On the sidewalks of New York City, double dutch jump rope is a language everyone speaks—and Tahira wants in. But no matter how many times she tries, the ropes appear to have a mind of their own. She finally learns to jump and discovers that she is not always able to access people to turn the ropes for her as often as she would like. When her third-grade class is asked to draw something they wished they could have, some of her classmates drew spaceships. Tahira drew an automatic double dutch machine so that she could jump anytime she wanted to. Tahira and the Double Dutch Dream is a story of a Bronx girl who never gave up—first learning to jump double Dutch, and then at age nine, inventing a machine so that she or any child could jump anytime, even without someone to turn the ropes. With the support of her grandfather, she built something the world had never seen. Her message to every child who has ever felt left out, left behind, or just not quite ready: keep going and never stop dreaming.