A new classroom collection of children’s books bearing former Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali’s name is intended to help motivate and empower young students, particularly boys, to overcome a different kind of obstacle to becoming accomplished readers: disinterest.
Scholastic Corp.’s “Muhammad Ali Presents Go the Distance” features books that champion Ali’s values and are aimed at socially disadvantaged students in grades 3-8 who believe neither reading nor education is relevant to their lives, says Lonnie Ali, the boxing legend’s wife.
The collection includes a wide range of multicultural fiction and nonfiction books that generally reflect the interests of young boys in underserved classrooms because, on average, they read far less than their female counterparts.
Some of the titles in the collection include: “Stealing Home: The Story of Jackie Robinson,” about the legendary athlete who broke baseball’s color barrier; “Hunterman and the Crocodile,” a folk tale from west Africa; “White Star: A Dog on the Titanic,” about a young boy and a dog who bond while aboard the doomed ocean liner; and “Touching Spirit Bear,” a story of a young boy’s journey from self-destructive anger to forgiveness.
The collection includes three libraries for grades 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, each with 96 books for students to read and discuss in class. There also are additional materials for teachers, such as printable lesson plans, book notes and a classroom poster of Muhammad Ali.