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Float and Sting!: One Round with Muhammad Ali
Davis Miller is a puny, little mouse at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At least that's what the other students call the 4' 7" senior. After years of being depressed, the sickly teen decides to take on an impossible dream. He decides to become a boxer. Then one day in 1975, Miller gets a chance to spar with Muhammad Ali, a bout that will change his life.
49 pages, Library Binding
First published August 1, 2009
15 people want to read
About the author
Davis Miller
11 books37 followersDavis Miller is notable for a series of works that combine reportage and autobiography. His books include The Tao of Muhammad Ali and The Tao of Bruce Lee: a martial arts memoir, both of which have been critically acclaimed number-one bestsellers in the United Kingdom and Japan, as well as The Zen of Muhammad Ali: and other obsessions, a collection of personal essays, memoir and short fiction that was published exclusively in the U.K., where it was a number-eight bestseller.
His most recent book is Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts, which was published on 1 March 2016 in the United States and the United Kingdom, and on 3 September 2016 as En Busca de Muhammad Ali in Spain.
Miller's story 'My Dinner with Ali' was judged one of the twenty best magazine stories of the 20th Century.
He is also co-librettist of the acclaimed chamber opera, "Approaching Ali," which was commissioned by the Washington National Opera and received its world premiere in 2013 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
His most recent book is Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts, which was published on 1 March 2016 in the United States and the United Kingdom, and on 3 September 2016 as En Busca de Muhammad Ali in Spain.
Miller's story 'My Dinner with Ali' was judged one of the twenty best magazine stories of the 20th Century.
He is also co-librettist of the acclaimed chamber opera, "Approaching Ali," which was commissioned by the Washington National Opera and received its world premiere in 2013 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 5, 2016
I had this book in a stack of books I had set aside for a year-long reading challenge I am participating in this year. With the passing of Muhammad Ali just days ago, I figured no time like the present to try out this little graphic novel about him!
This is not a straight up biographical telling of Ali's life. Instead, what author Davis Miller does here is work Ali into the story of a fictional teen in 1970s North Carolina, 17 year old Davis (yeah, he didn't have to reach far for a character name, right? ;-) ). Davis is a high school senior living in Winston-Salem. Just ten years earlier, 7 year old Davis was traumatized by his mother being killed in a car crash. For a time, he refused to eat (requiring him to take nutrition intravenously), refused to speak to anyone. The only thing that pierced through his pain was watching Muhammad Ali's fights on T.V.
Davis, in awe of Ali's confidence in himself, finds a new hero to get him through the worst days. Watching Ali, Davis finds so much he wants to emulate! Davis reads about and watches the story play out on the news of Ali being drafted into the military but refusing to serve, claiming that being associated with the military or war would be contradictory to his status as an Islamic minister. Ali stands by his convictions, even as he is charged with draft evasion, sentenced to 5 years in prison, and has his championship titles and license to box revoked. But he waits.... and sure enough in 1971 the Supreme Court comes back, says Ali was wrongfully charged and repeals their verdict! Young teen Davis also watches as Ali returns to the boxing ring after his court case, facing a fight with then champion George Foreman. Might be most well known for his grills now, but back then Foreman was known for having one of the hardest punches in the business. People feared Ali would be killed! But again, Ali walked in with a belief in himself and took down Foreman with hardly a struggle!
Our narrator Davis uses stories like this to work through his own struggles with bullying at school. Even though he's a high school senior now and nearly an adult, Davis has been battling schoolyard bullies in all the years since his mother's death. His refusal to eat all those years ago seemed to later stunt his growth, so now at the age of 17, he's not yet reached 5 feet tall. He also happens to be shy and super skinny with huge ears, earning him the unwanted nickname of "Mouse". After years of being teased, beaten and otherwise tortured, Davis finally decides to take action. He dedicates himself to becoming a boxer just like his hero, Ali, down to even mimicking Ali's way of moving in the ring. In 1975, Davis gets a chance to attend Ali's boxing school where he actually gets an opportunity to meet and spar with the legend himself! And the meeting is everything you might imagine :-)
This graphic novel has a nice fluidity in its combination of graphic novel panels blended with traditional (middle-grade reading level) written novel format. The colors of the panels themselves are vibrant and have a solid amount of action sequences to keep the pages flying. That combined with the truly inspiring and original plotline threw this one right up on my favorites shelf this year! I'd recommend it to sports fans and graphic novel enthusiasts alike!
It's also neat at the end to read in the bio information that much of the character of Davis was inspired by the author's own life experiences (like you were surprised, right!), Davis says he actually did meet and spar with Muhammad Ali more than once!
____________________
Note To Readers: If you find that you really enjoyed this graphic novel as I did, there's more where that came from -- author Davis Miller, prior to putting this book together, also wrote The Tao of Muhammad Ali (the inspiration for this project) The Zen of Muhammad Ali and Approaching Ali. And if you like those, he also wrote The Tao of Bruce Lee. Happy Reading!
Note To Parents & Educators: Should you want to use this to supplement any other reading on Muhammad Ali, this book also includes discussion questions and writing prompts for young student readers.
This is not a straight up biographical telling of Ali's life. Instead, what author Davis Miller does here is work Ali into the story of a fictional teen in 1970s North Carolina, 17 year old Davis (yeah, he didn't have to reach far for a character name, right? ;-) ). Davis is a high school senior living in Winston-Salem. Just ten years earlier, 7 year old Davis was traumatized by his mother being killed in a car crash. For a time, he refused to eat (requiring him to take nutrition intravenously), refused to speak to anyone. The only thing that pierced through his pain was watching Muhammad Ali's fights on T.V.
Davis, in awe of Ali's confidence in himself, finds a new hero to get him through the worst days. Watching Ali, Davis finds so much he wants to emulate! Davis reads about and watches the story play out on the news of Ali being drafted into the military but refusing to serve, claiming that being associated with the military or war would be contradictory to his status as an Islamic minister. Ali stands by his convictions, even as he is charged with draft evasion, sentenced to 5 years in prison, and has his championship titles and license to box revoked. But he waits.... and sure enough in 1971 the Supreme Court comes back, says Ali was wrongfully charged and repeals their verdict! Young teen Davis also watches as Ali returns to the boxing ring after his court case, facing a fight with then champion George Foreman. Might be most well known for his grills now, but back then Foreman was known for having one of the hardest punches in the business. People feared Ali would be killed! But again, Ali walked in with a belief in himself and took down Foreman with hardly a struggle!
Our narrator Davis uses stories like this to work through his own struggles with bullying at school. Even though he's a high school senior now and nearly an adult, Davis has been battling schoolyard bullies in all the years since his mother's death. His refusal to eat all those years ago seemed to later stunt his growth, so now at the age of 17, he's not yet reached 5 feet tall. He also happens to be shy and super skinny with huge ears, earning him the unwanted nickname of "Mouse". After years of being teased, beaten and otherwise tortured, Davis finally decides to take action. He dedicates himself to becoming a boxer just like his hero, Ali, down to even mimicking Ali's way of moving in the ring. In 1975, Davis gets a chance to attend Ali's boxing school where he actually gets an opportunity to meet and spar with the legend himself! And the meeting is everything you might imagine :-)
This graphic novel has a nice fluidity in its combination of graphic novel panels blended with traditional (middle-grade reading level) written novel format. The colors of the panels themselves are vibrant and have a solid amount of action sequences to keep the pages flying. That combined with the truly inspiring and original plotline threw this one right up on my favorites shelf this year! I'd recommend it to sports fans and graphic novel enthusiasts alike!
It's also neat at the end to read in the bio information that much of the character of Davis was inspired by the author's own life experiences (like you were surprised, right!), Davis says he actually did meet and spar with Muhammad Ali more than once!
____________________
Note To Readers: If you find that you really enjoyed this graphic novel as I did, there's more where that came from -- author Davis Miller, prior to putting this book together, also wrote The Tao of Muhammad Ali (the inspiration for this project) The Zen of Muhammad Ali and Approaching Ali. And if you like those, he also wrote The Tao of Bruce Lee. Happy Reading!
Note To Parents & Educators: Should you want to use this to supplement any other reading on Muhammad Ali, this book also includes discussion questions and writing prompts for young student readers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review