From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9–A fictionalized biography. Thorpe spent his life running–running away from school, running on the baseball diamond, running the football, or running to win both the pentathlon and the decathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. His accomplishments, his kindness and consideration of others, his defeats, and his exploitation are related in first-person narration, from his childhood on an Oklahoma reservation to the loss of his Olympic medals for playing on a professional minor-league baseball team. Readers learn about his athletic performances (some related play by play), his triumphs, his friendships, and his hardships through the use of dialogue and description. The trust that Thorpe had in others and his own perseverance show both his personal weaknesses and strengths. While the writing is accessible, Bruchac's use of the first person is likely to mislead or confuse readers. Twelve poor-quality, black-and-white photographs document the subject's time at Carlisle Indian Industrial School and show him receiving the gold medal for the pentathlon from King Gustav V of Sweden.
–Janice C. Hayes, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gr. 6-9. Bruchac expands his Jim Thorpe's
Bright Path (2004) into a full-length biopic--or at least the literary equivalent. Casting the narrative into the first person but sticking closely to documentary sources for people, incidents, and even dialogue, he details Thorpe's stellar amateur career in track, baseball, football, and the Olympics, along with the young athlete's repeated run-ins with hostile (and sometimes corrupt) officials and the harsh conditions he and his classmates endured at several Indian schools. In addition, as Thorpe played football for Carlyle's brilliant coach "Pop" Warner, readers will find fascinating glimpses of the game in its formative years. Relating his feats in matter-of-fact, never boastful tones, Thorpe demonstrates a peaceable, team-minded spirit, a solid work ethic (a persistent reputation to the contrary notwithstanding), and an occasional stubborn streak, but never a trace of bitterness or anger. As in many other, more conventional biographies, he comes across as both a hero and an unexcelled role model. For readers wishing to know more about Thorpe's professional career and later life, Bruchac supplies a long afterword and an annotated resource list.
John PetersCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
