Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali

by Jim Haskins, Eric Velásquez (Illustrator)

"I am the greatest! I am the king!" Bold and boisterous―Muhammad Ali was one of the most electrifying, inspiring, and confrontational athletes of his generation. At the height of his career, Ali was as despised as he was adored. Loud and aggressive as well as confident and dedicated, he was the quintessential showman, the undeniable champion of his sport, and one of the most recognizable faces in the world. He was challenged at every faced with racial discrimination in his everyday life, mocked by the sports media as his career began, ridiculed for adopting a new religion, and stripped by the U.S. government of his very livelihood for refusing to go to war. Muhammad Ali faced the obstacles in his life the way he faced his opponents in the ring, brashly and with all the force at his command. In his private life, he was also deeply spiritual, committed to standing up against social injustice, and steadfast in his beliefs. Ali's shadows have faded with time, leaving behind an international icon and a role model for generations―a champion both inside the ring and out Featuring stunning illustrations and covering his entire life from childhood through his professional career to his current battle with Parkinson's Syndrome, Jim Haskins and Eric Velasquez have created a moving tribute that introduces this electrifying and impressive figure to a new generation.

Genres: Biography, Childrens, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Sports, History, African American

40 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biographical picture book is about the life of Muhammad Ali, the Olympic boxer from Louisville, Kentucky. This book focuses on Muhammad Ali's childhood, when he was named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., and how he rose to fame. The story also goes into great detail about Ali's adult life. This book is a pretty good biography for older elementary students to read. This could easily be used in a Kentucky history lesson or during Black History Month. I really liked all of the paintings and illustrations in this book; they really brought the story to life. I also liked how the author provided a timeline of Ali's life major life events. The author also included a list of books for further reading about Muhammad Ali. I would recommend using this book with probably 4th or 5th graders since the vocabulary was pretty advanced and some of the concepts were also advanced.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Level: Intermediate

This is a Tumblebooks and can be found at the following url: http://www.tumblebooks.com.proxy.nl.e...

This digital book details Muhammad Ali's (Cassius Clay) life. It tells about his struggles growing up and how he became a champion boxer. This book is great for showing students how famous people have struggles to overcome to become successful.

[Kandace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I viewed this book on Tumblebooks. I believe this is a good way to share the biographical story of Muhammad Ali. The narrator's male voice adds authenticity to the first person quotes. This informational book documents the details of Muhammad's life, including his career determination and religious roots. Jim Haskins does a thorough job of summarizing the struggles and triumphs of an American legend. The realistic illustrations of Eric Velasquez compliment the genuine and heartfelt text.

[Victoria]

Personal Reaction: Although this book was very informative, I would say it would be much better for older readers. There was a large amount of text on each page, and difficult words that young readers would not be able to decode. The illustrations were amazing and very life like. I think maybe if a student just read excerpts from this book for a report then maybe it would be easier to read.

Purpose: independent reading, nonfiction, biography, book report

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-organized biography for middle graders covers Cassius Clay's childhood and career including his physical problems, conversion to Islam, political views, and boastful poetry enlivened by Eric Velasquez' marvelous illustrations. Back matter: chronology and selected bibliography for adult, middle-grade, and teen readers.

[Stephani Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a book that tells the life and career of Muhammad Ali as a person and a boxer. I love the pictures, they tell the story almost as well as the words.

Picture book

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by Jim Haskins, illustrated by Eric Velasquez. NON-FICTION/PICTURE BOOK Bloomsbury (Macmillan), 2018. $18 9781681195889

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL – ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay, Jr.) is known as one of the best heavyweight champions of the world. When he was little his bike got stolen and Cassius at the time wanted to find the person who stole it and beat them up, but a policeman told him he better learn how to fight first and sent him to a gym. From then on, Cassius loved fighting. He trained every chance he got and went on to win at the Olympics and in other important boxing matches. In his personal life, some people didn’t like him because he was cocky and confident about how good he was, but he could back it up with his actions. When Cassius changed his religion from Christian to Black Muslim, he also changed his name. When he was 39, he got Parkinson’s disease and eventually had to leave the ring, but he stayed true to his religion, loved his family and spoke up for what he believed was right.

This is a succinct summary of Ali’s life with fantastic illustrations. The book is text heavy with around three paragraphs per page spread and might appeal to older kids because of the level of understanding. I think Muhammad Ali’s name is famous enough that kids need to have a basic understanding of who he is and this is the perfect book for that.

C. Peterson
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali is a children's picture book written by James Haskins and illustrated by Eric Velásquez. It is a cursory biography of Muhammad Ali who from humble beginnings became one of the world’s most well-known boxers.

February, at least in my part of the world is Black History Month, which I plan to read one children's book, particularly a biography, which pertains to the subject everyday this month. Therefore, I thought that this book would be apropos for today.

Muhammad Ali born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was an American professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Haskins' text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. It starts with a young boy, then Cassius Clay, and his journey through childhood into his adulthood career of boxing. Velásquez's illustrations are drawn extremely well and depicted the narrative rather excellently.

The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It depicts Muhammad Ali's journey, through his childhood, through his physical problems, conversion to Islam, political views, and the like. It does a wonderful journey from childhood of humble beginnings to becoming one of the brightest stars in the boxing world.

All in all, Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali is a wonderful, well-constructed biography of one of the world’s most well-known boxers – Muhammad Ali.

[MaryLibrarianOH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a picture book biography there is a lot of text that provides a window into the life of Muhammad Ali. His childhood and his career in the ring. Life like illustrations bring Ali's milestones to life.

[Lupe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali is one of my favorite athletes so I really enjoyed this book. I think the topics are discussed in child-friendly terms and the colors of illustrations are, too. The book also includes a timeline. I hope the students at my school like this book as much as I do.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations. But not only that, the story of Ali is always one to be read. This is definitely a book I want to gift my niece and nephew.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's beautifully illustrated book. It's verbose so I would recommend it to an older child (7-10) who had an interest in sports, boxing, or social activism.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative picture books with colorful illustrations about Muhammad Ali. This picture book includes some of his poetry.

[Taryn Vogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Reaction: I really liked the illustrations throughout the book. They all looked very lifelike and drew you into what the story was portraying. They did a great job of going hand in hand with the text of the book. How the pages were set up were very interesting as well. Different parts of the text were either big text, or bolded, which made you know that what was being said is important to the story.The timeline in the back is very helpful for students. It will lead to them understand the text more and knowing when things happened in his life.

Purpose: This book is recommended for students ages 6-10. This would be a great book to read right around this time of the year. A lot of students are very aware of the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao that happened last week. If an event happens like that again, this book could be read aloud in class to the students about other famous boxers and more stories behind the sport. This book would create a discussion that the students would definitely be interested in. It could also be used with a history/diversity lesson. Muhammed Ali also faced a lot of strifes being an African American man, and had to overcome a lot of things. This could be used to show what life was like for different races in a time period and what their routines looked like.