Muhammad Ali: Sports Series

Muhammad Ali

 A non-fiction chapter book

Barber, Terry.  (2007). Muhammad Ali: Sports Series.  Canada:  Grass Roots Press.

This picture was obtained from: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/feature-muhammadali_65.html

“Ali never found the theif who took his bike.  He found magic in a boxing gym.  The name Ali is known around the world.  Ali may be the best boxer ever.”

                -page 45 from  Muhammad Ali

A Little about the Book:

The book Muhammad Ali is a biography of Muhammad Ali’s life.  The book starts out talking about Clay getting his bike stolen, which resulted in his desire to be a boxer.  Clay than changes his name to Muhammad Ali so he no longer sounds like a slave.  Muhammad goes on to win an Olympic gold medal, which he throws in the river, and fight against racism.  This book highlights Muhammad’s accomplishments in and out of the boxing ring.

The Illustrations:

The book, Muhammad Ali, uses photographs of Muhammad Ali’s life.  The pictures provide the children with a visual of how Muhammad Ali, and a visual to go along with the story being told.  The photographs add more depth to the book.

Themes:

·         the life of Muhammad Ali

·         Boxing

·         The fight to overcome racism

Age Level:

Muhammad Ali is set up as an early chapter book.  This book is suitable for children between the ages of seven and eight years old.  The Grade level would be between Grades 2 and 3.

Personal Response:

I really enjoyed Muhammad Ali.  I learnt a lot of new information about Muhammad Ali’s life.  The writing structure was very easy to follow, and engaging for the reader.  I enjoyed how the chapters were set up in a manner, which would be equivalent to a chapter in someone’s life.  Overall, the book was easy to follow and flowed nicely.  I would definitely recommend this book for anyone to read.

Teacher Ideas:

This book would be great to use for social studies as a resource for learning about important individuals in our history.  Muhammad Ali would be a great book to use for a sports theme for an English unit.  I would also recommend this book for boys who struggle to finish a book, or dislike reading, but do like sports.