Review by New York Times Review
MUHAMMAD ALI'S epic journey - from the 12-year-old Cassius Clay who learned to box after his new bike was stolen, to the '60s icon of defiance, sacrifice and principle, to the first three-time heavyweight champion of the world, to the gallant Parkinson's patient - is a narrative so dense and complex that it has so far eluded definitive biography. So what do we expect from an illustrated children's book? Introduction, slice of a life, springboard for discussion? Or just an impressionistic fable that will stake territory to be mined in age-appropriate books to come? This is hardly a problem unique to Ali; think of Jesus, Lincoln, Martin Luther King, all of whom Ali has compared himself h to favorably over the years, not to mention Jackie Robinson and Billie Jean King, also socially symbolic sports stars. But Ali's paradoxical life as prizefighter and pacifist, religionist and cheating husband, anti-integrationist and liberal hero, has been so willfully misinterpreted at each turn that the children's book writer and illustrator must constantly answer the questions, What do we need to tell, and when do we need to tell it? And then, Are we celebrating the legend or trying to make sense of the man? Two handsome new books for different age groups take on this formidable challenge. My scorecard records one defeat and one victory by knockout. The fighter on the cover of "Muhammad Ali: Champion of the World," written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by François Roca, looks tough and determined, as befits a young man sent by God into "the Kingdom of Boxing" to become a "prophet" for "a great wave of people who would not be silenced anymore." You think the 4-to-8-year-old listener/reader might need a little more background? In "Twelve Rounds to Glory," Muhammad Ali calls Joe Frazier an "Uncle Tom" and loses. Winter has taken the fabulist approach, which he signals in the opening line, "In the beginning was Jack Johnson. ..." Some years later "God said, Let there be Joe Louis," and then, after the brutish Sonny Liston won the title, "God said, Is that all there is ... to a boxer?" and "the heavens opened up, and there appeared a great man descending on a cloud. ... And he was called Cassius Clay." For all my reservations about the uninteresting, uninformative prose, it was the morose, faux-Hopper pictures that turned me off. The 1960s and '70s were a sound and light show, and Ali's face was probably the most recognized on the planet, usually smiling. In this book, Ali does not crack a smile until he arrives in Zaire for the Rumble in the Jungle and strolls with the dictator Mobutu. He smiles again as the crowd carries him on their shoulders after he wins back his title from George Foreman. After 44 years of covering Ali, I mostly remember the smiles - sly, joyous, mischievous, never wider than after one of his politically incorrect jokes ("What did Abe Lincoln say after waking up from a four-day drunk? I freed whooooooo?"). I understand not including that in a book for young children, but there must be a way to show why he captured our attention long before he won his first title and became a political, racial and religious lightning rod. He was - and is - magical, funny, kind, unpredictable and never as ideologically rigid as most of his supporters, critics or biographers. Bryan Collier's illustrations for "Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali" have more smiles, although Ali still tends to look serious in pictures that also never capture the vibrant color and motion of his times. It is the text by Charles R. Smith Jr. that illuminates the dazzle and daring of Ali, and ultimately the spiritual calm. He writes in a soft-rap second person singular, suggesting a poetry-slam letter of thanks for a life that has enriched us. This is a book that fulfills the mission of engaging readers until they are ready for the ever expanding adult shelf of Aliology in all its nuance and spin. Samples of Ali's hyperbole and doggerel offer young readers a sense of his flamboyant self-promotion. Smith's own vivid and imaginative prose well represents the era the young fighter had to overcome. Cassius heard America cheering when he returned from winning a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, "but the welcome was short/because away from sport /the country you fought for still/put people, like laundry,/in two separate piles." While generally celebratory, Smith is matter-of-fact in describing the notorious aspects of Ali's life, his involvement with the Nation of Islam before moving on to more traditional Muslim practice, his refusal to be drafted into the Army, and his four wives, two girlfriends and eight of his children (an adopted child is not mentioned). I was impressed with Smith's unflinching description of Ali's "sinister and ugly" humiliation of Joe Frazier, a decent man whom he "insulted and degraded" as an "Uncle Tom." Ali paid for that in his first professional defeat "as Frazier's fist shook/your brain in your skull, /snapping your neck back,/when his fist met your jaw/ with one mighty crack!" Without sentimentalizing Ali's illness, Smith honors his courage as the shaking hand lights the 1996 Olympic torch: "You reignited memories/of the champ who never quit / in the ring, / in life." Robert Lipsyte, whose recent young adult novels include "Raiders Night" and "Yellow Flag," received the 2001 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in young adult literature.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Muhammad Ali: Champion of the World begins not with Ali, but with Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion of the world, and then moves on to champions Joe Louis and Sonny Liston. All were great in the ring, but as Winter has God ask: Is that all there is to a boxer? It is not, of course. There appeared a great man descending on a cloud, jump-roping into the Kingdom of Boxing, and Ali is portrayed running alongside a fifties Cadillac in a driving rain. All of Ali's considerable charisma is vividly captured by Roca's oil paintings we see Ali both leading groups of people and facing off in the ring, and always he has that gleam in his eye that could be mischievous or turn malignant. As it tells the story of Ali's career, culminating with his triumph in the Rumble in the Jungle, this book skillfully introduces young readers not only to Ali's career and life story but also to his significance. Muhammad Ali was a new kind of boxer and a new kind of person, the kind of African American who is proud, strong, willing to fight. --Green, John Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With biblical references and a reverential tone, this lyrical story of Muhammad Ali paints the fighter (and the history of African-American boxers) in mythic proportions: "In the beginning was Jack Johnson." A subsequent spread features posters of Joe Louis and Sonny Liston, but the grand introduction is saved for Ali, shown running in the rain by night: "And the heavens opened up,/ and there appeared a great man/ descending on a cloud, jump-roping/ into the Kingdom of Boxing./ And he was called Cassius Clay." Roca's (Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing) strikingly realistic oil illustrations pack a powerful punch, and his use of light recalls Edward Hopper. He also captures subtle and overt emotions in facial gestures--Ali exudes braggadocio before his match with Liston, and in another scene, white reporters' faces register skepticism at his boasts. Winter's (Diego) cadenced, non-rhyming verse highlights just a few episodes from Ali's career and glorifies him as a king and near-miraculous savior, rather than emphasizing hard work on his part, but the result is no less inspiring ("Muhammad Ali was a new kind of boxer--/ and a new kind of person./ And he was creating a new way/ for African Americans to be"). Alongside the veneration is the subtle message that children, too, can achieve all that they imagine. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Winter and Roca offer a rousing tribute to Ali's spirit, determination, and strength of will in this picture-book biography. With strong, declarative language laced with religious phrases, it portrays Ali as "a kind of prophet-larger than life, larger than just a sports hero." Briefly limning the champions who preceded him-Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and Sonny Liston-the author announces Ali's arrival with theatrical bombast: "And the heavens opened up,/and there appeared a great man/descending on a cloud, jump-roping/into the Kingdom of Boxing." Ali proved triumphant in the boxing ring and forged a bold path: "TALKING and TALKING and TALKING and TALKING." Ali spoke out against racism; refused to fight in the Vietnam War; and boxed, danced, and talked his way to his greatest fight, 1974's "Rumble in the Jungle" versus George Foreman. Winter's highly charged prose is well matched by Roca's eye-catching oil paintings, which vividly capture Ali's proud, defiant character and detail the racism he encountered and the hero worship he inspired. This is not a comprehensive biography, but it does a fine job of introducing readers to Ali's life and legacy.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Winter borrows -- quite ingeniously -- from Genesis to bring to life this picture-book account of Muhammad Ali's boxing career. He first introduces Ali's predecessors: "IN THE BEGINNING was Jack Johnson... the first black king in the Kingdom of Boxing.... / And some many years later...God said, LET THERE BE JOE LOUIS, for the world was now ready for another black champion." Winter ramps up the drama for Ali's arrival: "And the heavens opened up, and there appeared a great man descending on a cloud, jump-roping into the Kingdom of Boxing." As Ali pummels his way to the top, Winter's nimble prose describes the boxer's conversion to Islam, outspokenness against racism, and refusal to fight in the Vietnam War (his later struggle with Parkinson's is mentioned only in a brief introduction). Throughout, a secondary character, "the World," expresses its distaste for the poem-spewing, boastful Ali. Packed with capitalized, oversized words, Winter's text is visually powerful. In perfect counterpoint are Roca's realistic full-page oil paintings: rendered in muted tones with an occasional punch of red, they have an understated yet steely strength. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Biblical syntax and cadences lift The Greatest from sports legend to prophet in this remarkable homage. "In the beginning was Jack Johnson . . . And some many years later, in a different age, God said, 'Let there be Joe Louis' . . . And the heavens opened up, and there appeared a great man . . . And he was called Cassius Clay." Clay's ascent through the ranks of boxing becomes a matter of predestination, his conversion to the Nation of Islam and his banning from the sport during the Vietnam War precursors to his apotheosis in the "Rumble in the Jungle" with George Foreman. Fortunately, Winter leavens his text with plenty of humor, allowing Ali's personality to peek through. Roca's beautiful poster-like oils are built on strong horizontal and vertical lines, the light shining on Ali emphasizing his status as Chosen One. Playful typography allows highlighted words to pop off the page, visual punches to underscore Ali's determination and personality. A prefatory note gives readers some background and prepares them for the presentation to come. As hagiography goes, it doesn't come any more unabashed than this--or more effective. (Picture book/biography. 4-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
