This story about Muhammad Ali was really good. Growing up i heard a lot of Muhammad Ali from my parents on how they would always say they had never seen a boxer as good as Ali. I have only been able to see highlights of him on social media and to see why the quote "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" was as famous as it is. but i never knew who Ali was outside of boxing and this story gave me a better look at the kind of man he was. How he would have talks in front of groups of kids and even opened up a camp for kids and would show up to do magic tricks for them. ( )

“The Champ: The Story of Muhammad Ali” by Tonya Bolden is an awesome book. I like this book for three reasons. First, I like the writing. The writing in the book was very engaging and flowed well. In the book, the writing is set up in a way that unfolds the process of Muhammad Ali becoming “the champ” in a concise but paced way. For example, the first page’s written text ends with a simple phrase “But Muhammad Ali was not always his name”. The next page explains the name he was born with followed by his childhood upbringing and by the middle of the book the reader gets a glimpse of his rise to him being a champ and to his transition in religion, explaining the hook of the book—“Muhammad Ali was not always his name”. The author carefully takes the reader through an informative biography of Muhammad Ali. Second, I like the vividly detailed illustrations. The illustrator’s creativity enhanced the story and fit with the written text. Every single page in the book was covered with an illustration to portray what was written by the author. For example, for the written text, “When he walked into a Louisville luncheonette one day, he was told to get out. The man did not care that he was an Olympic champion. The man only cared that he was black.” With this, the illustrator used the whole page to display a dark-hued street with different people from a variety of races looking at him side-eyed walking down the street while Muhammad kept his head up. The details of the illustrations to fit the writing is impeccable. Last, I like the fact that the book pushes readers to broaden their perspective of individuals who made history but may not get the credit for doing so. Muhammad Ali was not just a professional boxer, he demanded respect and promoted change. The author makes that very clear. It is evident that the big idea of the book is to understand that behind every star or celebrity there is a story! ( )

RGG: Powerful graphics combine with a free verse biography. The use of poetic devices makes this less straight forward than Walter Dean Myers picture book version.

I love the writing in this poetically descriptive picture book biography of Muhammad Ali, but I don't care much for the illustrations.

http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/book-review-champ.html ( )