The Greatest

by Alan Gibbons

Chris is the best boxer in the county. He's been picking on Ali for ages. Now Ali has to stand up for himself - just like his hero, Muhammed Ali. It's time to go in... and win?

A brilliant drama filled with facts about boxing legend Muhammed Ali.

55 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2006

About the author

Alan Gibbons is an author of children's books and a Blue Peter Book Award. He currently lives in Liverpool, England, where he used to teach in a primary school. His father was a farm laborer, but was hurt in an accident when Alan was eight years old. The family had to move to Crewe, Cheshire where Alan experienced bullying for the first time. He began to write for his pupils as a teacher, but never tried to get any of his work published.

Gibbons trained to be a teacher in his mid-thirties and starting writing short stories for his students. Later, he began to write professionally. In 2000, he won the Blue Peter Book Award in the category "The Book I Couldn't Put Down" category for Shadow of the Minotaur. He was a judge for the 2001 Blue Peter Book Awards. He was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2001 and 2003 and shortlisted twice for the Booktrust Teenage Prize. He has also won the Leicester Book of the Year, the Stockport Book Award, the Angus Book Award, the Catalyst Award, the Birmingham Chills Award, the Salford Young Adult Book Award and the Salford Librarians' Special Award.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fab book for teen readers who are interested in either boxing, stories with male and/or Muslim characters, or books with a protagonist 'fighting' against the odds. For me, I didn't enjoy the repeated listing of Ali's fights, I like boxing but not endless statistics, but hopefully that will appeal to those who do. It's very easy to skim read that part if you're not interested

[16BocaMappS]

It was a very good short book with an insight of a young muslims life and the greatest boxer of all time.

[Sarah Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great book for low ability, ESL and dyslexic children, mixing a fictional story with real-life facts about the boxer Muhammad Ali.

I've read this book several times with my students, and actually enjoyed it myself. The illustrations are charming and unobtrusive, the story is meaningful and relatable (addressing racism and bullying in an accessible way), and the pace is just right.

A lot of other books pitched at this reading level are trite, stupid, or incredibly poorly-written, but this one is a rare exception.

[15GiffenL · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book .

[KSena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those easy to read books. But that doesn't take away from the story that is really good. One of those books where the bullied kid litterary gets to kick his bully's ass. But not in a fight, but in the boxing ring. Like the trainer keeps saying in the book: "Don't fight dirty, fight properly." It's easy to see where this is going, but it's a nice read on the way there. And I like how you get a lot of facts about Muhammad Ali on the way, since the main character looks up to him. A nice book all around to read, highly recommended.