The Greatest: Muhammad Ali (Scholastic Focus): Muhammad Ali - Softcover

Myers, Walter Dean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590543431 ISBN 13: 9780590543439

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, 2001

Synopsis

A riveting portrait of the world's greatest boxer chronicles his childhood, his rise as a champion, his politics, and his battle against Parkinsons' disease to demonstrate his accomplishments both inside and outside the ring. Reprint.

About this title

About the Author:

Walter Dean Myers is the 2012 - 2013 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. He is the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author an award-winning body of work which includes, SOMEWHERE IN THE DARKNESS, SLAM!, and MONSTER. Mr. Myers has received two Newbery Honor medals, five Coretta Scott King Author Awards, and three National Book Award Finalists citations. In addition, he is the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Heroes that looked anything like me were hard to come by when I was a kid growing up in Harlem. I remember Sugar Ray Robinson, then the welterweight champion, stopping his flashy Cadillac on our block and sparring with me and the other kids. All the kids on the block loved his playing with us, even the girls. Once in a while I would spot heavyweight champ Joe Louis on 125th Street near the Apollo Theater in New York City and that was always a thrill. But Robinson and Louis were relatively simple men, their brilliance limited to their exploits in the ring. Another Robinson, Jackie, had just integrated major league baseball and became, for me, the most exciting male figure in the African-American community until the Summer Olympics of 1960.That summer, a young man would stand on the podium, a gold medal around his neck, while the “Star Spangled Banner” played. A caption on the television I watched announced that Cassius Clay had won the gold medal in boxing. It was the first glimpse for most Americans of the man who would come to be known as The Greatest.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0590543431
• ISBN 13: 9780590543439
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 172