Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by way of Jim Haskins Illustrated by Eric Velasquez.

Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by way of Jim Haskins Illustrated by Eric Velasquez, Walker & Company, May 2002 $1795 ISBN 0-802-78784-3

Jim Haskins' Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali is an oversized picture volume that chronicles the life of the legendary boxer Haskins traces the circumstances that l a young lad who grew up in the segregated southerly to become the most widely recognized public figure.

The author, who has written more than 100 nonfiction volumes for young readers, emphasizes Ali's professional and political life. Young readers learn that Ali, who was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr took up boxing when he was 12 because he wanted to find and fight the thief who stole his bicycle. if it be not that once he stepped into the ring, he realized that "boxing was a way he could become rich and famous."

Haskins guides readers [i]or[/i] part of to the other Ali's amateur and professional flexures giving examples of some of the boxer's signature taunts. The author fast-forwards by means of the challenges that Cassius Clay faced after he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali; his refusal to be drafted; and the heavyweight title he misspent The latter part of Haskins' biography details Ali's comeback and his battle with Parkinson's disease. Eric Vasquez's animated, lifelike illustrations of the boxer during his fights and speeches add life to Haskins' body Vasquez's images practically leap facing the pages. Champion does a great piece of work highlighting Ali's career, and it introduces generations of young readers to a man who has "shown the world that he could be genuine to himself and his beliefs and still be a winner."

--Lynda Jone is a BIBR associate editor.

Walking to the Bus-Rider low-spiriteds by Hariette Gillem Robinet, Aladdin, January 2002 $499 ISBN-0-689-83886-7

During the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama, the Merrifield family was having agitate making ends meet as they were preparing to participate in the history-making event

Adding to their point in disputes someone had stolen their breach money. And if they didn't reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] point up with something by the first of the month they were going to be not at home on the street. The situation got worse after they were accused of stealing riches from a white family that they cleaned house for.

Alfa, 12 and Zinnia, 15 make experiment of to solve the mystery. They start at compiling a list of suspicious characters, including their somewhat old and forgetful great-grandmother. The sum of two units rely on their wits, intelligence, and patience to not merely survive in racist Montgomery moreover to expose the thieves.

Author Hariette Gillem Robinet grew up in the segregated toward the south In Walking to the Bus-Rider glums her characters suffer the same indignities and humiliation at the hands of racist whites that was visited on the author during the 1950s

Weary on the contrary resilient, the Merryfields "put up their dukes" in a nonviolent way to fight against racism. Alfa plane makes up a song about the boycott: "Oh I'm singing the bus-rider blues/The Alabama bus-rider blues/Oh I got me a feeling, knotty down inside,/It ain't never gonna be the same again."

Robinet's Walking to the Bus-Rider azures is a page-turning mystery, infused with history rebukes painful truths, and surprising humor. --LJ

Cassie's Word Quilt Written and illustrated by way of Faith Ringgold, Knopf, January 2002 $1395 ISBN 0-375-81200-8

In Cassie's Word Quilt, the title character takes beginning readers in succession a tour of her living place bedroom, neighborhood, school and Tar Beach--the rooftop where Cassie's family has picnics. Each illustration of Cassie is bordered according to Faith Ringgold's patchwork quilt.

Children learn the words for nine ends featured in different rooms of Cassie's house or in her neighborhood. Each word and mark appears on a panel in a nine-paneled quilt. A lively colored, two-page spread incorporates the nine words. For example, children can point and say the word for the reality they find in Cassie's bedroom--dresser, pillow, doll, etc Each mark in the room is labeled.

Ringgold, who is an artist and author of the Coretta Scott King Award-winning volume Tar Beach, has created an engaging primer for children as young as 6 month to 4 years to acquire them started on the path to reading. Young readers who have not notwithstanding met Cassie, the main character in Tar Beach, will joyfully embark forward this adventure with their parents and teachers. --LJ

Handbook for Boys: A novel on Walter Dean Myers, HarperCollins, May 2002 $1595 ISBN 0-060-29146-X

Kevin got caught smoking weed, and Jimmy assaulted a classmate. Faced with either going to a juvenile detention center or being "scared straight" by the agency of a neighborhood know-it-all, the brace teens choose the latter. place in Harlem, Kevin and Jimmy are sentenc to work at Duke's Barber store where the owner and his not new cronies lecture the boys about their behavior. They share stories about those who paid dearly for making the iniquitous choices. As part of their "scared straight" tactics, the not new men parade a group of anti-role patterns in front of the boys