This brief biographical sketch of the late boxer Muhammad Ali highlights his sports personality and activism.
Cassius was confident from a young age, this book tells readers. When someone stole his bike, he told a police officer he wanted to face the thief. The officer suggested Cassius take boxing classes, and he did. With speed as his secret weapon, he dominated the junior boxing scene, winning an Olympic gold medal in Rome. From there, he went on to train for the world heavyweight championship. “To tease his opponents, Cassius often used rhymes, describing how he was going to win. Some thought it was trash-talk, but it sounded like poetry…and it worked!” Dedicated spreads show Ali’s victory against Sonny Liston, his speaking up for African-Americans’ rights, his conversion to Islam and name change, his conscientious objection to the Vietnam War and the professional consequences he suffered because of it, his amazing comeback, and his charity work toward the end of his life. Playful, stylized cartoon illustrations of people with curved limbs and round lips center Ali, often pictured as an oversized figure, surrounded by scenes that influenced him and groups representing the many people he influenced.
An amazing life effectively condensed into picture-book form, this makes a nice introduction to the greatest. (historical note, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78603-331-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
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PERSPECTIVES
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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