Informational Resources:

Author Information:

James Patterson: https://www.jamespatterson.com/

Kwame Alexander: https://kwamealexander.com/

Illustrator Information:

https://www.anyabwile.com/

Activities & Resources:

Activities:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers book guide:

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BecomingMuhammadAli.Guide_.pdf

Civil Rights

Cassius Clay lived in Louisville, Kentucky during the civil rights movement. Research the civil rights movement to become familiar with how this time period and events may have influenced Cassius Clay.

(5:40) https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=tT3EIKmKpaQ

Civil Rights Movement (34:24): https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=Nl94eZWrkC8

This video contains five biographies: Martin Luther King at the beginning, Rosa Parks (13:52), Thurgood Marshall (24:40), Ruby Bridges (27:07), and Jackie Robinson (31:26).

Civil Rights Movement: https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/civil-rights-movement/403522

Civil Rights Movement: https://www.historyforkids.net/civil-rights.html

Perspective

This book is told from two perspectives. Investigate what the perspective is in a story and identify the two perspectives from this book.

Boxing

Make a list of the boxing terms in the book like pugilist, the ring, southpaw, cauliflower ear, KO, and uppercut. Look up the definitions.

Card Tricks

Cassius Clay spent time trying to learn card tricks. Learn to do some card tricks. (13:55) https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=AhKYbhSbSrA

MakerSpace Activities:

For his birthday, Papa Cash and Momma Bird gave Cassius a pair of boxing gloves with his name on them. Design your own pair of boxing gloves.

http://www.getcoloringpages.com/coloring/153622

How to Draw a Boxing Glove (5:09): https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=6HXnUjEdH5g

Cassius’s bike gets stolen. Design a bike lock using paper clips, pipe cleaners and other everyday materials.

Design your own boxing shorts. https://raskrasil.com/wp-content/uploads/Raskrasil-odezhda-37.jpg

Lucky, Cassius, and Rudy use some of Mr. Clay’s paints to make posters to promote Cassius’s fight. Look at these poster designs. Design a boxing poster advertising Cassius Clay’s next fight in your hometown. https://punchingbagsguide.com/boxing-posters/

Discussion Questions:

Becoming Muhammad Ali is told in two different perspectives. Part of the book is told by Lucky and the other part is told by Cassius Clay. Why would the authors choose to write the book like this?

Before the championship fight in the Golden Gloves Championship, a reporter asked Cassius Clay if he thought he was as good as Joe Louis or Sugar Ray and Cassius told the reporter “I don’t think I’m as good, I’m Better.” How does Cassius Clay’s attitude about himself affect his boxing?

During the fight with Francis Turley, Cassius Clay thought about “how boxing was gonna set me free, set us all free.” What did he mean?

Lucky says even after Cassius Clay lost his first Golden Gloves championship, he was still bound for greatness. Why would losing make him work harder?

At a young age Cassius Clay decided he wouldn’t drink soda. He wouldn’t smoke. He always went to bed at ten o’clock. He ran to school instead of riding the bus. What does this say about Cassius Clay?

Cassius Clay lived in the West End of Louisville. Due to segregation, this was one of the only places where his family could live. When Cassius went downtown, he did not see many people like him and couldn’t be served where he saw signs that said “White’s Only.” How would living in a place and time where you can’t do certain things or be certain places because of what you look like affect you?

Granddaddy Herman’s sermons always ended with him saying (pp. 25-26) “Know who you are, Cassius. And whose you are. Know where you going and where you from.” What did he mean?

Cassius Clay loved Superman because he was stronger than anyone else and world-famous. He loved that he defeated villains and people called him a hero. Who is your favorite superhero? Why?

Cassius Clay says everyone in his neighborhood has a nickname. Cassius is Gee-Gee because that’s the noise he made as a baby. Big Head Paul has a big head. What nickname do you have? How did you earn it?

Cassius Clay’s daddy said “Gee-Gee, I want you to be the first of US to go to college. Do something with yourself.” Cassius was not good at school. He said “School’s not for me, Daddy. I’m gonna be a star, just don’t know how I'm gonna shine yet.” Is being good at school the only way to be a success? What does it mean to be a success?

Mrs. Clay told the boys there were some things you can say in the house that you can’t say outside. They had to be one way for themselves and another for the rest of the world. She was talking about how to behave around white people because of racism. Is this still true today? Is it just because of racism or are there other reasons? Do you have to act differently at home than in public?

Cassius Clay says having his bike stolen feels “lousier” than the natural disasters, wars and all kinds of human failings and tragedies that have happened that year. What is the lousiest thing that has happened to you this year?

One of the uplifting quotes in the Columbia Boxing Gym says “Winners are not those who never fail. They are those who never quit.” What does this poster mean?

What’s the best way to make a dream come true?

Joe Martin says “The fight is won before you get in the ring.” What does that mean to you?

“Confidence is hard to understand. Hard to find. Hard to master.” What does this mean to you?

Why do you think Cassius Clay decided to go to work cleaning houses with his mom?

Later in life a reporter asked Cassius Clay what he wanted to be remembered for. Cassius said “I’d like for them to say, he took a few cups of love, he took one tablespoon of patience, one teaspoon of generosity, one pint of kindness. He took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then he mixed willingness with happiness, he added lots of faith, and he stirred it up well. Then he spread it over a span of a lifetime, and he served it to each and every deserving person he met.” What do you want to be remembered for?

Do you have a passion for something like Cassius Clay had for boxing? What will you do with that passion?

Cassius Clay later changes his name to Muhammad Ali. If you could change your name, would you? Why would you change it? What would you change it to? Why did you choose that name?

If Cassius Clay’s bike had not been stolen, how would his life have changed? Would he still have been a boxer?

Book Talk Teasers:

Read the reader’s theater for Becoming Muhammad Ali (coming soon).

Watch the book trailer for Becoming Muhammad Ali embedded below.

Watch the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt book trailer for Becoming Muhammad Ali (0:37): https://youtu.be/3LPzTrF6sIM

Colby Sharp booktalks Becoming Muhammad Ali (5:01): https://youtu.be/Vjd3uQDww8Y

Read Alikes:

Muhammad Ali

Bolden, Tonya. The Champ: the Story of Muhammad Ali. A biography of the legendary boxer, who began his career as Cassius Clay, discussing his prowess in the ring, his conversion to Islam, and his life after boxing. (NoveList)

Buckley, James Jr. Who is Muhammad Ali. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. won the world heavyweight championship at the age of 22, the same year he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He would go on to become the first--and only--three-time (in succession) World Heavyweight Champion. Nicknamed “The Greatest,” Ali was as well known for his unique boxing style, consisting of the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope, as he was for the catchphrase “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” He was an uncompromising athlete who brought beauty and grace to a very rough sport and became one of the world’s most famous cultural icons. (goodreads)

Black Boyhood

Craft, Jerry. New Kid. Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real, from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft. (NoveList)

Rhodes, Jewell Parker. Ghost Boys. "After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till"--. (NoveList)

Boxing

Buitrago, Jairo. Jimmy the Greatest! Jimmy lives in a small town by the sea where there is just one tiny gym. The owner of the gym suggests that Jimmy start training, and to inspire him, he gives Jimmy a box full of books, as well as newspaper clippings about Muhammad Ali. "The Greatest." Jimmy is swept with admiration for Ali. He begins to read and run and box like crazy, and as he does so, he makes a great discovery: you don't have to leave home to be "the greatest." (NoveList)

Holt, K.A. Knockout. Told in assonant free verse, Levi was once a premature baby who suffered from respiratory problems; he recovered, and now in seventh grade, he struggles to demonstrate to his divorced mother and overprotective brother that he is okay--so when his father suggests he take up boxing he falls in love with the sport, but he still must find a way to convince his family to set him free to follow his dream. (NoveList)

Miller, William. Joe Louis, My Champion. After listening to the radio broadcast of the heavyweight championship boxing fight of his hero, Joe Louis, a young African American boy realizes that he can emulate the boxer's persistence and strive to become whatever he wants to be. (NoveList)

Smith, Charles R., Jr. Black Jack: the Ballad of Jack Johnson. Poetry tells the story of boxer Jack Johnson, who became the first African-American world heavyweight boxing champion in the early part of the twentieth century. (NoveList)

Reviews:

Patterson, James & Kwame Alexander. Becoming Muhammad Ali: A Novel. Jimmy Patterson Books, an imprint of Little Brown & Company. 2020.

Booklist (Starred)

Becoming Muhammad Ali.

By James Patterson and Kwame Alexander. Illustrated. by Dawud Anyabwile.

Oct. 2020. 320p. Little, Brown/JIMMY Patterson, $16.99 (9780316498166). Grades 3-7. REVIEW. First published October 15, 2020 (Booklist).

Before boxer Muhammad Ali was “The Greatest,” he was a boy named Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, who aspired to be a winner. In this fictionalized biography, powerhouse authors Patterson and Alexander chronicle teenage Clay’s rise to fame in 10 chapter “rounds.” A childhood friend called Lucky starts each round with a prose narrative that sets the scenes to come in free verse poems told from Clay’s perspective. The poems, often rhythmic and reminiscent of the boxer’s inspiring, humorous, and artful expressions, relate Clay’s working-class neighborhood and his close friendships, bullies, and first ups and downs with love. Still more poems recount the teen’s undiagnosed learning disabilities, his coping skills, and his burgeoning views on racism. Readers feel the intensity rise in energetic poems that describe his fortuitous entry into boxing, focused training, quick thinking—on and off his feet—and prominent boxing matches leading up to his Golden Gloves championships and Olympic gold medal. Together, the prose and poems reflect Clay’s both public bravado and private humbleness as well as his appreciation and respect for family and friends. The “Final Round” gives a brief look at Ali’s professional career as heavyweight champion of the world and his guiding beliefs against injustice. Adding to the punch are Anyabwile’s large, expressive illustrations in a comic-book style. A knockout! —Angela Leeper

Used with the permission of Booklist https://www.booklistonline.com/

School Library Journal starred (October 1, 2020)

Gr 4-8-Before the indomitable Muhammad Ali was known as a boxing legend and social justice leader, he was Cassius Clay, a young dreamer and fighter from Louisville, KY. As a young Black man, Cassius's childhood in the 1950s is shaped by the Southern United States' Jim Crow laws. Working towards a better life seems impossible; yet Cassius is a firm believer in who he is and where he's from. But where is he going next? It all begins with a stolen bike, a boxing ring, and unrelenting determination. Told in "Ten Rounds," this utterly delightful story about Ali's childhood is a smash hit. Patterson handles narrator Lucky's prose while Alexander crafts Cassius's poetry. This creates a distinct, clear flow for each Round, starting with a thought-provoking intro which then progresses into Cassius's rhythmic expansion of events. Despite many roadblocks along his boxing journey, Cassius's positive, winning demeanor reveals that the biggest hurdle when pursuing a passion is one's mindset. Though the overarching narrative ends with the 1959 Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, the "Final Round" chapter overviews Ali's life in and out of the ring. A bibliography is included. VERDICT The overwhelming positivity filling the pages encourages readers to never be afraid of who they are, making this story golden. Get this uplifting, informative book onto library shelves and into kid's hands.-Emily Walker, Lisle Lib. Dist., IL © Copyright 2020. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Reprinted with permission from School Library Journal ©2020