From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9-Rather than focusing solely on the subject's life on and off the court, Lipsyte examines M.J. the multimillion dollar commodity. He puts the Jordan phenomenon into historical perceptive, correlating the man's success with the rise in popularity of the N.B.A. and the changes in the style of the game over the years. In addition, he explores the relationship between athletics and the marketing of products. Jordan's latest career as a minor league baseball player is touched upon in the last few pages. While at times insightful, this book does have its drawbacks. For one thing, it is sure to disappoint the many readers who pick it up expecting more on Jordan's life and less philosophizing on the state of sports today. And even the philosophizing doesn't completely succeed; not all of the ideas are fully developed and the entire approach is somewhat disjointed. Lipsyte does avoid the over-awed, gee-whiz tone of many sports biographies, but he sometimes goes too far the other way and simply seems grumpy. The text is illustrated with black-and-white photographs of Jordan and other important figures in the history of basketball. Other biographies on this superstar are likely to have more appeal to young fans.
Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, ILCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Robert Lipsyte's list of publications for young people isn't especially lengthy when compared to those of other authors who have been writing for the same length of time. But that's because writing books for and about teenagers isn't the only kind of writing he does, or the only kind of work he does, for that matter. Among other things, Robert Lipsyte has been a highly respected columnist and a prize-winning sports reporter for the New York Times, a correspondent for the CBS television program Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, the host of his own award-winning television interview program, The Eleventh Hour, on New York City's public television station, and author of a television documentary series about sports. Most importantly, he is the author of
The Contender, one of the very first realistic novels about contemporary teenagers and a book that has been required reading in many American schools for the past three decades. Recognizing the importance of that book as well as his other works, the American Library Association honored Robert Lipsyte with the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2001. Mr. Lipsyte lives in New York, NY. Winner of the 2001 Margaret Edwards Award
