Ping-Pong Shabbat: The True Story of Champion Estee Ackerman

POP POP KERPOW!
Eleven-year-old Ping-Pong phenom Estee Ackerman must make a difficult choice. When her championship match is scheduled on the Jewish Sabbath, will she go for the gold medal, or honor her faith? Read the true story of how a young girl struggled to uphold her beliefs while pursuing her passion.

Tournament after tournament, Estee kept winning.
She beat all sorts of players. Some were older. Some were younger.
She even beat tennis star Rafael Nadal!
She became one of the best Ping-Pong players in the United States.

Estee Ackerman loved Ping-Pong more than anything. But she also loved and honored the Jewish tradition of the Sabbath. At age eleven, she began to rise in the ranks of tournament players, making it all the way to the finals of the US National Table Tennis Championships. She only had one player left to beat to win a gold medal--but the final match was set during Shabbat, and the judges said they couldn’t change it. How could Estee choose between her passion and her faith? This is the true story of a girl’s struggle between her love for her religion and her love of the game.

Ann Diament Koffsky is the author and/or illustrator of more than fifty books for kid, s including the Kayla and Kugel series, The Three Little Sheep, and Different Kinds of Minds with Temple Grandin. Shabbat is definitely her favorite day of the week. Occasionally, Ann enjoys picking up a paddle and playing pickleball . . . but she’s nowhere near as good as Estee! Find out more at annkoffsky.com.

Abigail Rajunov is an illustrator based in Dallas, Texas. She loves to draw silly characters, whimsical scenes, and emotional moments. As someone who was raised Jewish, she is honored to help tell Estee’s story for her debut picture book! When she isn’t illustrating, Abigail loves to play video games, strum on her guitar, and plein air paint in her sketchbook. You can find more of her work at abigailrajunov.net