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Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books
Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Defeated the Army
In the autumn of 1912, the football team from Carlisle Indian Industrial School took the field at the U.S. Military Academy, home to the bigger, stronger, and better-equipped West Points Cadets. Sportswriters billed the game as a sort of rematch, pitting against each other the descendants of U.S. soldiers and American Indians who fought on the battlefield only 20 years earlier. But for lightning-fast Jim Thorpe and the other Carlisle players, that day's game was about skill, strategy, and determination. Known for unusual formations and innovative plays, the Carlisle squad was out to prove just one thing -- that it was the best football team in all the land.
39 pages, Hardcover
Published July 31, 2018
About the author
Art Coulson
14 books29 followersArt Coulson is a writer, editor and storyteller who served as the first executive director of the Wilma Mankiller Foundation in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, after a 25-year career in journalism. He is the author of The Creator’s Game: A Story of Baaga’adowe/Lacrosse, Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Defeated the Army, The Reluctant Storyteller, Lure of the Lake, Trophy Buck and Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi!.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 4, 2019
The story of how Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team defeated West Point is a tale that should be better known to all Americans - the art is fantastic.
November 29, 2021
Jim Thorpe was an Olympic medalist, and one of the greatest athletes of all time. This is his story.
March 25, 2022
A good factual book, but for an athlete of this magnitude, surely the hairs on my arms should stand up somewhere in this book! But they did not. Nicely illustrated, but not spectacular.
From Wiki:
Jim Thorpe has been heralded as the greatest athlete ever, certainly the most accomplished of the first half of the 20th century. Thorpe won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon and the pentathlon in 1912. He simultaneously played professional baseball and football, interchanging his sport by the seasons.
From Wiki:
Jim Thorpe has been heralded as the greatest athlete ever, certainly the most accomplished of the first half of the 20th century. Thorpe won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon and the pentathlon in 1912. He simultaneously played professional baseball and football, interchanging his sport by the seasons.
January 21, 2019
Born in 1887, what was then Indian Territory and is today's Oklahoma, a young boy named James Francis Thorpe would grow up to become one of America's most versatile athletes and the first Native American to win two Olympic gold medals in pentathlon and decathlon. Jim was member of the Fox and Sac Nation, and was called Wa-tho-huk (Bright Path) by his mother.
As a boy, Jim loved to fish, ride and playing with his dogs, but because he didn't like school and kept running away. Finally, in 1904, his father sent him to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School at age 16. Though he worked a farm job off campus, it was soon discovered that Jim was an athletic phenom, a gifted athlete excelling in baseball, lacrosse, track, hockey, and football and it didn't take long for Carlisle's coach Glenn "Pop" Warner snatch him up.
But what Jim really wanted to do was play on the Carlisle varsity football team and despite being small for his age, in 1907, he finally made the team and played for them for two seasons before leaving school again. Then, in 1912, Pop Warner asked him to come back and he promised to train the now 25-year-old Jim for the 1912 Olympics, which he did, enabling him to win his two Gold Medals in .
But 1912 was also the year that Carlisle would be playing Army, one of the country's best teams. The Indian team was considered the underdogs. Did the Carlisle team stand even the remotest chance of beating such a premier team as the one from West Point?
Though Jim Thorpe's athlete career was mainly spent playing baseball for the New York Giants and the Boston Braves, Coulson has chosen to focus Unstoppable on Thorpe's early life up to and including the 1912 game against Army. He does not, however, ignore the painful and humiliating treatment of Native children at the early Indian schools, and Carlisle was no exception. It was then the practice of the American government to remove Native children from their homes, sending them to Indian boarding schools, where their hair was cut, tradition clothing was burned, and forbidden for speaking Native languages or practicing their own religion.
Nick Hardcastle's realistic illustrations add much dimension to Jim Thorpe's story. His color palette choices definitely have a aura that is reminiscent of the early 20th century and the style reminded me of the old cigarette cards that people used to collect featuring athletic greats.
Back matter for Unstoppable includes a short biography about Jim Thorpe, the members of the 1912 Carlisle Indians Varsity Football Team, a glossary, information about Pop Warner, and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, as well as information for further exploration.
I found Unstoppable to be a very informative, well written picture book for older readers. I didn't know that much about Jim Thorpe other than the fact that he was a Native American athlete and Burt Lancaster played him in a not terribly good movie called Jim Thorpe - All American that can sometimes be seen on TV. Unstoppable is a book that should be included library and classroom collections for teaching kids about Native peoples.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Capstone.
As a boy, Jim loved to fish, ride and playing with his dogs, but because he didn't like school and kept running away. Finally, in 1904, his father sent him to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School at age 16. Though he worked a farm job off campus, it was soon discovered that Jim was an athletic phenom, a gifted athlete excelling in baseball, lacrosse, track, hockey, and football and it didn't take long for Carlisle's coach Glenn "Pop" Warner snatch him up.
But what Jim really wanted to do was play on the Carlisle varsity football team and despite being small for his age, in 1907, he finally made the team and played for them for two seasons before leaving school again. Then, in 1912, Pop Warner asked him to come back and he promised to train the now 25-year-old Jim for the 1912 Olympics, which he did, enabling him to win his two Gold Medals in .
But 1912 was also the year that Carlisle would be playing Army, one of the country's best teams. The Indian team was considered the underdogs. Did the Carlisle team stand even the remotest chance of beating such a premier team as the one from West Point?
Though Jim Thorpe's athlete career was mainly spent playing baseball for the New York Giants and the Boston Braves, Coulson has chosen to focus Unstoppable on Thorpe's early life up to and including the 1912 game against Army. He does not, however, ignore the painful and humiliating treatment of Native children at the early Indian schools, and Carlisle was no exception. It was then the practice of the American government to remove Native children from their homes, sending them to Indian boarding schools, where their hair was cut, tradition clothing was burned, and forbidden for speaking Native languages or practicing their own religion.
Nick Hardcastle's realistic illustrations add much dimension to Jim Thorpe's story. His color palette choices definitely have a aura that is reminiscent of the early 20th century and the style reminded me of the old cigarette cards that people used to collect featuring athletic greats.
Back matter for Unstoppable includes a short biography about Jim Thorpe, the members of the 1912 Carlisle Indians Varsity Football Team, a glossary, information about Pop Warner, and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, as well as information for further exploration.
I found Unstoppable to be a very informative, well written picture book for older readers. I didn't know that much about Jim Thorpe other than the fact that he was a Native American athlete and Burt Lancaster played him in a not terribly good movie called Jim Thorpe - All American that can sometimes be seen on TV. Unstoppable is a book that should be included library and classroom collections for teaching kids about Native peoples.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Capstone.
January 8, 2020
Interesting picture book biography about Jim Thorpe, but I felt that, even for children, it didn't address. enough of some major obstacles in his life. There is some attention given to the boarding schools and how completely messed up they were, but there is no mention of his losing his medals.
January 29, 2019
Competent account of Jim Thorpe, a Native American athlete who excelled in many sports and broke racial barriers in the process.
May 18, 2019
An outstanding nonfiction picture book!
January 30, 2019
https://raisethemrighteous.com/2019/0...
Capstone, the publisher behind Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army, approached its author, Art Coulson (Cherokee), about writing a non-fiction children’s picture book focused on a 1912 college football game between Carlisle Indian School and West Point. In an interview for the blog Cynsations, Coulson notes: “This was a game that the press built up as a rematch of the Battle of Little Big Horn.” Coulson and illustrator Nick Hardcastle do a wonderful job making this snapshot of US history available to young readers in vivid detail that accounts for the difficult circumstances that led Jim Thorpe to the Carlisle Indian School. Coulson maintains a serious tone, at points just shy of celebratory, to bring the unstoppable Jim Thorpe’s story to life.
Coulson takes readers on a journey through Jim Thorpe’s life introducing him as a twelve-year-old football fan excitedly watching a college football game and imagining himself playing. Jim’s challenging childhood is noted but not lingered on, as is the lengthy history of Native American boarding schools which existed to force assimilation, often without the consent of children or their families.
Coulson focuses on Jim’s athleticism, the area of his life in which he truly was unstoppable. For instance, after leading Carlisle to victory against Army, his coach, Pop Warner, helped him train for the Olympics where he won many events, several in a pair of shoes he found in a trash can after his were stolen.
Coulson is generous with his praise, not only of Jim, but other members of the team and coach Warner. He details the creative plays they brought to the field and describes the team’s skill as strategy-based.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story but would have liked to see the historical significance of the game elaborated on. Perhaps I am just a greedy reader!
I appreciated the back matter, including an accessible description of Jim’s post-1912 accomplishments, short biographies of other Carlisle players, and a description of Carlisle Indian Industrial School that details the real horror of boarding schools.
I recommend this book for personal and school libraries. It is a well-researched and descriptive biography of Jim Thorpe that foregrounds the social, political, and familial hardships he negotiated in his remarkable life.
The publisher sent me a copy of the book for review
I reviewed the book for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019.
Capstone, the publisher behind Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army, approached its author, Art Coulson (Cherokee), about writing a non-fiction children’s picture book focused on a 1912 college football game between Carlisle Indian School and West Point. In an interview for the blog Cynsations, Coulson notes: “This was a game that the press built up as a rematch of the Battle of Little Big Horn.” Coulson and illustrator Nick Hardcastle do a wonderful job making this snapshot of US history available to young readers in vivid detail that accounts for the difficult circumstances that led Jim Thorpe to the Carlisle Indian School. Coulson maintains a serious tone, at points just shy of celebratory, to bring the unstoppable Jim Thorpe’s story to life.
Coulson takes readers on a journey through Jim Thorpe’s life introducing him as a twelve-year-old football fan excitedly watching a college football game and imagining himself playing. Jim’s challenging childhood is noted but not lingered on, as is the lengthy history of Native American boarding schools which existed to force assimilation, often without the consent of children or their families.
Coulson focuses on Jim’s athleticism, the area of his life in which he truly was unstoppable. For instance, after leading Carlisle to victory against Army, his coach, Pop Warner, helped him train for the Olympics where he won many events, several in a pair of shoes he found in a trash can after his were stolen.
Coulson is generous with his praise, not only of Jim, but other members of the team and coach Warner. He details the creative plays they brought to the field and describes the team’s skill as strategy-based.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story but would have liked to see the historical significance of the game elaborated on. Perhaps I am just a greedy reader!
I appreciated the back matter, including an accessible description of Jim’s post-1912 accomplishments, short biographies of other Carlisle players, and a description of Carlisle Indian Industrial School that details the real horror of boarding schools.
I recommend this book for personal and school libraries. It is a well-researched and descriptive biography of Jim Thorpe that foregrounds the social, political, and familial hardships he negotiated in his remarkable life.
The publisher sent me a copy of the book for review
I reviewed the book for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019.
August 8, 2018
Unstoppable told the story of Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team. It was an incredible story and depicted the struggles of Native peoples in that era well. I had very limited knowledge of Jim Thorpe before reading this book and felt that it covered his life and challenges well. This will be an excellent non-fiction book to add to collections in upper elementary classrooms and for those that have a passion for sports. The amount of text on each page was a little difficult for younger learners.
November 25, 2019
Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army is a children's picture book written by Art Coulson and illustrated by Nick Hardcastle. It is a biographical picture book of Jim Thorpe and the 1912 match of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School took the field at the U.S. Military Academy.
November, at least in my part of the world is Native American Heritage Month, which I plan to read one children's book, preferably a biography, which pertains to the subject everyday this month. Therefore, I thought that this book would be apropos for today.
James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States.
Coulson's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. The narrative is uncomplicated as the reader follows Thorpe through residential school and his discovery of sports where he excelled to the point of being an Olympiad. Additional biographical matter could be found in the backmatter. Hardcastle's fine-lined ink-and-watercolor illustrations project an appropriately bygone air, depicting Thorpe in motion more often than not.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. As a child growing up in Indian Territory, Jim Thorpe was taken from his family to Haskell Institute, a boarding school where Native children were forced into a white assimilation education system. After running away from Haskell several times, Jim was sent at sixteen to the Carlisle Industrial School, where his father hoped he would learn a trade.
At Carlisle, Jim turned his talent for running to track, encouraged by coach Glenn "Pop" Warner. Though Jim was small for his age, he excelled in baseball, lacrosse, and hockey and his ability to dodge bigger players landed him on Carlisle's varsity football team. The twin highlights of his career were making it to the 1912 Olympics, where he won several gold medals, and leading Carlisle to defeat the champion Army team.
All in all, Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army is a wonderful, albeit cursory biography about Jim Thorpe – athlete and Olympiad.
November, at least in my part of the world is Native American Heritage Month, which I plan to read one children's book, preferably a biography, which pertains to the subject everyday this month. Therefore, I thought that this book would be apropos for today.
James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States.
Coulson's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. The narrative is uncomplicated as the reader follows Thorpe through residential school and his discovery of sports where he excelled to the point of being an Olympiad. Additional biographical matter could be found in the backmatter. Hardcastle's fine-lined ink-and-watercolor illustrations project an appropriately bygone air, depicting Thorpe in motion more often than not.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. As a child growing up in Indian Territory, Jim Thorpe was taken from his family to Haskell Institute, a boarding school where Native children were forced into a white assimilation education system. After running away from Haskell several times, Jim was sent at sixteen to the Carlisle Industrial School, where his father hoped he would learn a trade.
At Carlisle, Jim turned his talent for running to track, encouraged by coach Glenn "Pop" Warner. Though Jim was small for his age, he excelled in baseball, lacrosse, and hockey and his ability to dodge bigger players landed him on Carlisle's varsity football team. The twin highlights of his career were making it to the 1912 Olympics, where he won several gold medals, and leading Carlisle to defeat the champion Army team.
All in all, Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army is a wonderful, albeit cursory biography about Jim Thorpe – athlete and Olympiad.
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October 13, 2020Summary: The book talks about a story about a child named Jim Thorpe who grew up in Indian Territory. He was taken from his family to Haskell Institute when he was 16. Jim was small for his age, he excelled in baseball, lacrosse, and hockey—and his ability to dodge bigger players landed him on Carlisle’s varsity football team.The twin highlights of his career were making it to the 1912 Olympics, where he won several gold medals, and leading Carlisle to defeat the champion Army team. Hardcastle’s fine-lined ink-and-watercolor illustrations project an appropriately bygone air, depicting Thorpe in motion more often than not.
Analysis: I don’t know much about sports but this is a good book to use in the class. The book talks about overcoming obstacles and chasing your dreams through hard work and determination, a great lesson for kids.
How I will use this: I think I will set students into different groups and let them read the book. Then, they need to tell me what they learned from the book.
Analysis: I don’t know much about sports but this is a good book to use in the class. The book talks about overcoming obstacles and chasing your dreams through hard work and determination, a great lesson for kids.
How I will use this: I think I will set students into different groups and let them read the book. Then, they need to tell me what they learned from the book.
November 10, 2022
Desiring for his son to “settle down and learn a trade” Jim Thorpe’s father Hiram makes the decision to send his 16 year old son to Carlisle Industrial School. Created by the United States military, Carlisle was established to teach American Indians. After an unlikely success, Jim is called to the office of Glenn “Pop” Warner, coach of the track and football team at Carlisle. Learning he had not only broken the school’s record for high jump, Jim receives his jersey and formal invite to the football team.
Leaving Carlisle to care for his siblings, Jim returns to the reservation. Wanting Jim to return to Carlisle to play football for him, Pop promises him that he will help him train for the 1912 Olympics. Becoming the first American Indian to win a gold medal in the Olympics, Thorpe is declared the “greatest athlete in the world.” Now facing another great challenge, Jim and the Carlisle football team face the West Point Cadets. Who will win, the “bigger, stronger, better-equipped Army” or the undefeated Carlisle?
Leaving Carlisle to care for his siblings, Jim returns to the reservation. Wanting Jim to return to Carlisle to play football for him, Pop promises him that he will help him train for the 1912 Olympics. Becoming the first American Indian to win a gold medal in the Olympics, Thorpe is declared the “greatest athlete in the world.” Now facing another great challenge, Jim and the Carlisle football team face the West Point Cadets. Who will win, the “bigger, stronger, better-equipped Army” or the undefeated Carlisle?
October 28, 2020
Gr. 1-5. The life of Jim Thorpe, pride of the Carlisle Indian School, is explored here in this pleasing picture book biography. Sports journalist Art Coulsen examines Thorpe’s early years, as he moves from slight teenager to gifted athlete and on to become a 1912 Olympics medalist. But it’s Carlisle’s football rout over the U.S. Military Academy that year that’s the real focus of this story. The team’s speed and innovative plays forever changed the game of football and added to Thorpe’s legacy. Sections at the end of the book include more biographical details about Thorpe, other members of the 1912 team, their coach, and the school itself. A glossary and a list of further resources offer more compelling reading. Use this to describe how one person can make a difference, then encourage students to learn more about Thorpe in online encyclopedias or have older readers pair it with excerpts from Steve Sheinkin’s Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team (2017).
February 16, 2019
"The American government took Native children from their homes and sent them to boarding schools far away. The children were forced to march and to learn trades, like baking or blacksmithing. The schools cut the children's hair and burned their traditional clothes. Teachers would not allow them to speak their languages or to practice their religions, often beating the students for doing so." In this biography of football player Jim Thorpe, readers learn about abusive practices against native children in the late nineteenth century as well as the great sports achievements of Jim Thorpe, Olympian and the first president of the American football league (now the NFL).
November 10, 2021
I've been wanting to read biographies about Jim Thorpe for quite a while and they haven't made it past my to be read list. Unstoppable is the perfect introduction to this uber olympian athlete. I learned a ton about football in general, not just this amazing player. What a perfect book for Native American Heritage Month, as well as any sports themed read alouds.
Recommend for grades 2 and up.
Recommend for grades 2 and up.
October 30, 2019
I've heard of Jim Thorpe before, but I didn't really know much of anything about him. This picture book describes his life as a young athlete, as a Sauk Indian, and his many successes in other sports. It is a good book to include for a unit learning about Native American boarding schools and the environment in which those students had to live.
January 2, 2020
I think the most important aspect of Jim Thorpe's story was left out of the narrative in this text -- how his medals were taken away from him for a short period of time. It is in the back matter but I think if it would have been included in the story it would stir a richer discussion of this biography.
November 2, 2020
Unstoppable tells the incredible true story of super-athlete Jim Thorpe joining the Carlisle Indian football team, competing in the Olympics, and taking his small team to a 27-6 point victory against the West Point Military Academy. Lively anecdotes about Jim Thorpe as a young man give vitality and humanity to his story.
December 6, 2021
In spite of unbelievable odds, Jim Thorpe went on to become a top-notch athlete and successful person. He was a gifted and natural athlete.The game between West Point and Carlisle was one of Jim Thorpe's best games. 27-6
It still amazes me that he competed in the Olympics in someone else's shoes. I'd heard that story before and seen the pictures.
It still amazes me that he competed in the Olympics in someone else's shoes. I'd heard that story before and seen the pictures.
March 19, 2023
There is some great information, but it feels too text-heavy for children, and I am not sure that the balance of the hints at things that are terrible without really getting into them works.
I think a better option may have been a children's book focusing on a single game and then a YA Thorpe biography.
I think a better option may have been a children's book focusing on a single game and then a YA Thorpe biography.
August 23, 2020
Too sophisticated for Kindergarten, but excellent nevertheless. Did not shy away from the douche that Thorpe could be and the horrible institute that was Carlisle. Recommended for children grade 2 and up.
Q2020 book.
Q2020 book.
November 20, 2022
This is a great book. If used as a read aloud students will hear the author talk about boarding schools, taking away Native American culture, and native Americans still possessing the strength and courage to be the best.
February 4, 2019
Basic biography about Jim Thorpe. It discusses his athletic accomplishes. Would have like more than just an endnote re: the Indian Boarding Schools.
August 21, 2019
A moving picture book biography of American Indian Jim Thorpe from his early interest in sports to his trip to the Olympics and his football career. Elementary and up
May 28, 2020
Excellent. Great illustrations, own-voices American Indian representation. A sports angle for buy-in, but also doesn't shy away from the dark history of Carlisle.
July 4, 2020
A wonderful picture book about the life of Jim Thorpe- one of the most famous native american athletes in America!
July 19, 2020
Definitely a good book. Good Native American studies/Sports including Football and Olympics/US History crossover. Will definitely use in my classroom this school year.
June 30, 2022
The football jargon isn't explained so I wasn't sure I understood everything the author was talking about, but the story of Jim Thorpe was certainly fascinating and excellent!
July 13, 2022
It would have been a 5-star. However, this book washed over the horrors of federal assimilation boarding schools.
September 14, 2022
Lot's of great facts for the kids (and me) to learn about. He was an incredible athlete and didn't know Pop Warner was connected to him.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews