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  • Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive

Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive

Author
Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator
Eric Velasquez
Publication Date
January 25, 2022
Genre / Grade Band
Non-fiction /  2nd − 3rd
Language
English
Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive
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Description
Jesse Owens grew up during the time of Jim Crow laws, but segregation never slowed him down. After setting world records for track in high school and college, he won a slot on the 1936 U.S. Olympic team. That year, the Olympics were in Berlin, then controlled by the Nazis, and Hitler was certain they would be a chance to prove to the world that Aryans were superior to all other races. But the triumph of Jesse's will helped him run through any barrier, winning four gold medals and the hearts of millions, setting two world records, and proving the Nazi dictator unmistakably wrong. The story of Jesse Owens comes alive for young readers with Carole Boston Weatherford's award-winning free verse poetry and Eric Velasquez'a stunning art.
Publication date
January 25, 2022
Genre
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781547608980
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
BISAC categories
JNF007050 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Cultural Heritage
JNF018010 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JNF007100 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Sports & Recreation

School Library Journal

Written in second-person narration, the book focuses tightly on Owens's accomplishments, giving details about each of the four races and his role in uniting people across racial lines. Rich pastel illustrations, many of them based on historical photographs, make this title stand out.

Publishers Weekly

[A] poetic tribute...Sometimes calling to mind old-time photographs, Velasquez's pleasingly grainy pastels easily convey the movement and speed, determination and triumph at the core of Owens's uplifting story. 
Carole Boston Weatherford
Carole Boston Weatherford, a New York Times best-selling author and poet, was named the 2019 Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award winner. Her numerous books for children include the Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, illustrated by Floyd Cooper; the Caldecott Honor Books Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, which was also a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book; the critically acclaimed Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, illustrated by Eric Velasquez; and the Newbery Honor Book BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, illustrated by Michele Wood. Carole Boston Weatherford lives in North Carolina.

Frank Morrison has won numerous awards for his picture book illustration, including two Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards. He previously collaborated with Carole Boston Weatherford on Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual; R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul; How Sweet the Sound: The Story of Amazing Grace; and The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop. Frank Morrison lives outside Atlanta.
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