A remarkable woman achieves a lifelong dream in this nonfiction picture book. Gifted a Bible by a group of evangelists, Mary longed to learn how to read but had no time or opportunity to do so. Enslaved until she was 15, Mary later worked to help her single mother support their family; as a married adult she worked as a sharecropper to support her three sons, whose birthdays she marked in her Bible. At 114 years old, having outlived her husband and children, Mary became the nation's oldest student as she learned to read in her retirement home. Celebrating her birthdays with family and friends, Mary, who lived to be 121, would read aloud from her Bible. Cut-paper collage illustrations accompany the narrative of this impressive, persevering Black historical figure. (Ages 5-9)