I thought I had read about Katie Brumbach more than my official record shows. But regardless, I had (though currently available) an online reader copy of Katie, Big and Strong: The True Story of the Mighty Woman Who Could Lift Anything by Jennifer Cooper and Jen White (illustrator) and therefore, I can say I have read at least one.
I really can’t do this book justice for story, so I’ll take the publisher description:
Even from a young age, Katie Brumbach was BIG and STRONG. She could lift heavy weights, bend steel bars, and lift several men at once. She boldly named herself “Katie Sandwina” after Eugen Sandow, the world’s strongest man, and her women’s record for an overhead lift of 296 pounds remained unbroken for over 75 years. In 1912, at the height of her American fame, she publicly rallied with her fellow circus performers for women’s suffrage. Hailed as a goddess-like figure by the press and circus audiences, Katie showed the world that being big and strong could be beautiful” 
This picture book gives the highlights of things. I would like to find an adapted biography for teens as I think there might be a lot of details in an adult version that is not needed for what I want to know. However, there is a good start here. We learn of her big, circus family, and how she would be the one to make a name for herself. The politics of the time for “women’s place” came out, but I am also interested in what happened globally, what was changing as this person was changing how women could be seen. And I would have liked more details within the story, though there is an afterwards, well afterwards. It is good for the slightly older picture crowd.
The illustrations are nice. They didn’t “wow” me, but I don’t think another style would have worked. They (if I was to romanticize it) have a not-feminie-but-feminie feeling. They are sweet, casual, but busy and colorful, without being overwhelming. They can be both busy and not overly crowded simultaneously. They compliment the story’s text and included at the end are a few photographs. I would also like to try Introducing Sandwina: The Strongest Woman in the World! by Vicki Conrad and illustrator Jeremy Holmes to compare the two.
