Muhammad Ali’s life story is interwoven with significant historical events of the latter half of the 20th century—the American civil-rights movement, the war in Vietnam and the growth of the Nation of Islam—and Myers shows how he used his star status to make the case for the rights of African-Americans, conscientious objection and religious freedom as well as boosting his own athleticism. Delinois’s emotive style packs a prismatic punch of its own. Bold brushstrokes create scenes and are overlaid and outlined with frenetic multi-hued pencil lines in a style reminiscent of Leonard Jenkins’s. The total effect is energetic and disorienting, getting to the raw emotional impact of victory, loss, confrontation and peace. Myers’s prose account of Cassius Clay’s metamorphosis into the world heavyweight boxing champion is enlivened by (unsourced) quotations from friends, family and The Greatest himself, but it suffers from awkward transitions and occasionally incomplete contextualization for the audience. Despite its arresting visuals, it does not replace other such treatments as Jim Haskins’s Champion, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (2002), or Tonya Bolden’s The Champ, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (2004). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-029131-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Collins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2009
One of the watershed moments in African-American history—the defeat of James Braddock at the hands of Joe Louis—is here given an earnest picture-book treatment. Despite his lack of athletic ability, Sammy wants desperately to be a great boxer, like his hero, getting boxing lessons from his friend Ernie in exchange for help with schoolwork. However hard he tries, though, Sammy just can’t box, and his father comforts him, reminding him that he doesn’t need to box: Joe Louis has shown him that he “can be the champion at anything [he] want[s].” The high point of this offering is the big fight itself, everyone crowded around the radio in Mister Jake’s general store, the imagined fight scenes played out in soft-edged sepia frames. The main story, however, is so bent on providing Sammy and the reader with object lessons that all subtlety is lost, as Mister Jake, Sammy’s father, and even Ernie hammer home the message. Both text and oil-on-canvas-paper illustrations go for the obvious angle, making the effort as a whole worthy, but just a little too heavy-handed. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-161-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them.
An inspirational ode to the life of the great South African leader by an award-winning author and illustrator.
Mandela’s has been a monumental life, a fact made clear on the front cover, which features an imposing, full-page portrait. The title is on the rear cover. His family gave him the Xhosa name Rolihlahla, but his schoolteacher called him Nelson. Later, he was sent to study with village elders who told him stories about his beautiful and fertile land, which was conquered by European settlers with more powerful weapons. Then came apartheid, and his protests, rallies and legal work for the cause of racial equality led to nearly 30 years of imprisonment followed at last by freedom for Mandela and for all South Africans. “The ancestors, / The people, / The world, / Celebrated.” Nelson’s writing is spare, poetic, and grounded in empathy and admiration. His oil paintings on birch plywood are muscular and powerful. Dramatic moments are captured in shifting perspectives; a whites-only beach is seen through a wide-angle lens, while faces behind bars and faces beaming in final victory are masterfully portrayed in close-up.
A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-178374-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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