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Summary
Summary
"I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me."
He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., in Louisville, Kentucky. His very first boxing coach, former police officer Joe Martin, told him, "You better learn how to fight before you start challenging people." Once considered the underdog, Cassius, later known as Muhammad Ali, would eventually win the title of heavyweight champion of the world. Acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers recounts the champ's most famous fights and examines the depth and complexity of the larger-than-life legend Muhammad Ali. The bold, vibrant art of Alix Delinois reflects the beauty and power of the man who could "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
Author Notes
Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937 in Martinsberg, West Virginia. When he was three years old, his mother died and his father sent him to live with Herbert and Florence Dean in Harlem, New York. He began writing stories while in his teens. He dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Army at the age of 17. After completing his army service, he took a construction job and continued to write.
He entered and won a 1969 contest sponsored by the Council on Interracial Books for Children, which led to the publication of his first book, Where Does the Day Go? During his lifetime, he wrote more than 100 fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. His works include Fallen Angels, Bad Boy, Darius and Twig, Scorpions, Lockdown, Sunrise Over Fallujah, Invasion, Juba!, and On a Clear Day. He also collaborated with his son Christopher, an artist, on a number of picture books for young readers including We Are America: A Tribute from the Heart and Harlem, which received a Caldecott Honor Award, as well as the teen novel Autobiography of My Dead Brother.
He was the winner of the first-ever Michael L. Printz Award for Monster, the first recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. He also won the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors five times. He died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness, at the age of 76.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This artful biography of Muhammad Ali begins with his childhood in Louisville, Ky.-he started learning how to fight after his bicycle was stolen-and offers snapshots of his hard-earned career in the world of boxing. Myers (Looking Like Me) attends to the tempestuous political and social climate that so profoundly shaped Ali, while newcomer Delinois's powerfully expressive illustrations evoke the energy and emotion of the civil rights movement and Ali's stance as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. In the boxing rink, Ali's and his opponents' bodies are fluid, with kinetic chalky outlines and blocks of paint capturing the glistening heat and intensity of the fight. Myers makes good use of direct quotations from Ali, his family members, and other contemporaries (at the Rumble in the Jungle, Ali taunts George Foreman, "Punch, sucker. I thought you could hit. That's a sissy punch"), though the lack of citation for the quotes is surprising. This visually striking account ends with Ali, stricken with Parkinson's disease, lighting the torch at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, still determined to fight. Ages 5-8. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
I am the greatest fighter in the world. I am the greatest poet in the world! I am the greatest! I am the greatest!" Myers begins this exuberant picture book when Muhammad Ali was still known as Cassius Clay and includes plenty of quotations from the celebrated athlete. Delinois's painterly illustrations express the famous boxer's energy as well as the political upheaval around him. Timeline. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
The curious mix of bravado and humility constituting the life of Muhammad Ali receives a sensitive exploration in this vibrantly illustrated biography. The quotes that cover the endpapers run the gamut, from his get used to me black pride to the more reflective words of his later years: God gave me Parkinson's to remind me that I'm not the greatest. He is. Myers takes a snapshot approach, moving swiftly from Ali's Kentucky childhood to his Olympic victory to his refusal to serve during the Vietnam War. The relative scarcity of pugilistic play-by-plays is purposeful; Myers sails through boxing milestones even as he lingers upon such events as Ali's conversion to Islam. Delinois is with Myers every step, using wild splotches of paint and scribbles of chalk not only to capture the velocity of a punch but also fill in contextual blanks (Myers' brief words on racism find a stronger counterpart in Delinois' protester holding a sign reading No More Jim Crow Now). Unexpectedly far reaching, this is a Muhammad Ali for the thinking child.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2009 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-In this picture-book biography, the spirit of prizefighter Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Clay, permeates the action-filled pages. Myers explains how young Cassius chose to become a student of boxing after his bike was stolen, which was his main form of transportation in the 1950s. By the age of 18, he was a Golden Gloves champion and well on his way to fame as he traveled to the Olympics in Rome. Calling to mind Ali's famous quote before his fight against Sonny Liston, "I'm going to float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," endpapers are a brilliant orange background decorated with a plethora of bees and butterflies. Myers also inserts other well-known quotations seamlessly throughout the chronological framework of the book. Artwork, rendered in a painterly style, is dramatic and enhances the boldness of this boxing superstar. Especially notable is the portrait of Ali on the final page. The author concludes with a one-page time line of the athlete's life. This book will supplement existing biographies.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Muhammad Ali's life story is interwoven with significant historical events of the latter half of the 20th centurythe American civil-rights movement, the war in Vietnam and the growth of the Nation of Islamand 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). (timeline) (Picture book/biography. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.