Muhammad Ali remains an interesting, colorful persona long after his amazing boxing career. Here the author tells his story in a manner befitting his strong personality, recalling boyhood experiences as the young Cassius Clay finds his avocation and describing key opponents and matches with excitement enhanced with quotes from some of Ali’s famous boastful verses. She doesn’t merely recreate a play-by-play listing of Ali’s sports achievements, but also emphasizes his fierce determination in all his endeavors. Bolden portrays the whole man, including the controversies and disappointments concerned with his conversion to Islam and his refusal to participate in the draft, as well as the physical disabilities that resulted from too many blows to the head. She accomplishes all of this in language that is clear and concise without being condescending. The text pops with a variety of fonts, print size, color and orientation on the page. Christie’s strongly hued, highly stylized paintings are eye-catching and well integrated with the text. This is picture-book biography at its best. A fascinating introduction to an intriguing person. (notes, source list) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)
Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2004
ISBN: 0-375-82401-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An inspirational, fast-paced biography of a man who broke barriers for athletes of color.
Despite years of racism and discrimination, Roberto Clemente became a baseball legend.
Born in 1934, Clemente grew up in Puerto Rico, where he played baseball using a tree branch and a tin can. At 19, he left the island to play professional béisbol but spent most of his time on the bench. In 1955 he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates; fans “[loved] Roberto’s bold style,” but as a Black Puerto Rican man who spoke English with an accent, he encountered bigotry. Despite his acrobatic plays, his teammates mocked him, newspapers dubbed him a showoff, and many insultingly called him “Bob.” By 1960 he was an All-Star who led the Pirates to victory in his first World Series. Although he was passed over for MVP because of racist attitudes and suffered further injustices while training with the team in segregated Florida, he finished the season with a .351 batting average and in 1961 won his first Gold Glove. Sports journalist Alonso weaves Spanish words into the story and ratchets up the narrative’s energy with play-by-play descriptions of Clemente’s athleticism. Caldecott honoree Gutierrez’s vibrant mixed-media illustrations evoke urban murals or Afro-Caribbean fabrics, pulsing with swirls, designs, and actions saturated in color and fueled by emotion. Alonso’s author’s note offers more context and emphasizes that though Clemente wasn’t the first Afro-Latine player on an American or National League team, he nevertheless made important strides.
An inspirational, fast-paced biography of a man who broke barriers for athletes of color. (timeline, glossary, translation of a quotation, selected bibliography, illustrator’s note, archival photographs, photo credits) (Picture-book biography. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9781635928112
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-06-027821-8 For Aliki (Marianthe’s Story, 1998, etc.), the story of the Globe Theatre is a tale of two men: Shakespeare, who made it famous, and Sam Wanamaker, the driving force behind its modern rebuilding. Decorating margins with verbal and floral garlands, Aliki creates a cascade of landscapes, crowd scenes, diminutive portraits, and sequential views, all done with her trademark warmth and delicacy of line, allowing viewers to glimpse Elizabethan life and theater, historical sites that still stand, and the raising of the new Globe near the ashes of the old. She finishes with a play list, and a generous helping of Shakespearean coinages. Though the level of information doesn’t reach that of Diane Stanley’s Bard of Avon (1992), this makes a serviceable introduction to Shakespeare’s times while creating a link between those times and the present; further tempt young readers for whom the play’s the thing with Marcia Williams’s Tales From Shakespeare (1998). (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-027820-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
