Full name: Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford Year: 2006 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Children, Picture books, Biographies, Non Fiction Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780802795502 0802795501

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. Eric Velasquez tackles this challenging subject with the use of pastels for the first time in twenty years-a technique that is both heart-stopping and immediate. Similar books: Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford The Legendary Miss Lena Horne by Carole Boston Weatherford Leontyne Price by Carole Boston Weatherford Sugar Hill by Carole Boston Weatherford Gordon Parks by Carole Boston Weatherford Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai The Right Word by Jen Bryant The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman Wangari's Trees of Peace by Jeanette Winter One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed Nothing Stopped Sophie by Cheryl Bardoe Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson Brave Ballerina by Michelle Meadows Betty Doll by Patricia Polacco Schomburg by Carole Boston Weatherford Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Thermes Fartiste by Kathleen Krull The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can by Tererai Trent