Tells the story of the first black heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson, who rose through the ranks in the early twentieth century.

Read this today for a Mock Caldecott session at Multnomah County Library and found it to be the most compelling choice. The illustrations with the motif of the mighty fighter's hands and the effective use of perspective, space and type help to amplify this fine homage to the great boxer. ( )

Read this today for a Mock Caldecott session at Multnomah County Library and found it to be the most compelling choice. The illustrations with the motif of the mighty fighter's hands and the effective use of perspective, space and type help to amplify this fine homage to the great boxer. ( )

"Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson" is a children's biography by Charles R. Smith, Jr. It is about the life of Jack Johnson, the first African American boxing heavyweight champion. He worked for many years to be able to fight against the champion. Since he was black, he was not allowed to fight against white boxers, but he was finally able to do so and became the champion. Overall, this book was acceptable but nothing special. I appreciated the way the story was told, but the story itself seemed to be lacking something. I think this book would be good to use in a classroom to study prominent Black people in American history. I think it would be good for a child to read who is interested in sports. It is a good and appropriate biography for children because it is presented as a story, so the book seems more exciting than a book that just stated facts. The media used for this book is computer-made. ( )

The format of this book was done very well...a biography of the first African American heavy weight champion of the world done in poetry form. The author did a good job of making the facts of Jack Johnson's life interesting and fun to read. The book flows so well that at first the reader doesn't even realize that the lines rhyme. This book would be an excellent introduction to a class/library poetry unit. ( )