Customer Reviews

Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive

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I love this retelling of the Jesse Owens biography.

We also have the book "Childhoods of Famous Americans -- Jesse Owens", so we know his story well. One of my kids loves to run, and he loves Jesse.

I love the illustrations -- some pages have many panels, telling the story.

From the beginning "Ready, Set... GO" you are hooked on this book. Jesse is so well-beloved and inspirational, and it comes through loud and clear with every illustration.

As a mom, I don't think this book works too well as a stand-alone biography of Jesse Owens. The language is poetic and interesting, but my kids (all boys) respond much better to a declarative style of narration. The book is told in the second person, present tense: "You enter the stadium..." instead of "he entered the stadium" -- that can be hard for the young readers who might be drawn to a picture biography.

In addition, the book is light on context -- mentioning Jim Crow, mentioning and picturing Hitler, without any explanation. Picture-book-age kids don't automatically know what either Jim Crow or Hitler were. It opens up a nice discussion, but it almost should have been left out of the book.

Yes, I know picture books aren't only for little children.

After the story ends, Carole Boston Weatherford provides two pages of historical biography -- very nice.

Get this as the companion to the "Childhood of Famous Americans" Jesse book, they work well together.