UNSTOPPABLE: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army, by Art Coulson, Review by Michael, Age 17
Are you ready for some football?
I was assigned to write a review of UNSTOPPABLE: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army. The book is written by Art Coulson and illustrated by Nick Hardcastle.
Even though the cover looked cool and the book isn't too long, I was still intimidated to do it, because I'm dyslexic. But it turned out to be a great read that didn't frustrate me at all. As a matter of fact, it's one of my new favorite books. Let me explain why.
I have CP, that's cerebral palsy. I get around in a chair. And I play some sports. But I really like watching games and listening to them being called. Coulson did an excellent job of making me feel like I was at the Carlisle-Army Game. He is obviously also a sports fan, and can keep up the tension and excitement of the game.
I think he did an amazing job of getting young readers to know Jim Thorpe. He doesn't just seem like a legend (Olympian gold medalist and football star), but a real person, a Native/Sauk boy and man. I think people who do great things often have obstacles and they are not perfect supermen. Coulson shows this is true about Thorpe. He was too small. People laughed at him when he wanted to play football. We find out in the back of the book that Jim was beaten by his father and had many tragedies in his life.
The Carlisle School was a really bad place where Native people were stripped of their hair, clothing, languages, anything that made them Native. I was shocked by the note in the back that says that of the 10,000 students who attended Carlisle, only 158 graduated.
Coulson shows the hardship in Jim's life, but he also shows the things he loved to do--hunt, fish, ride horses. That made me feel close to Jim and better understand who he really was.
The illustrations are excellent. Some are exciting. Some are depressing. They go well with the text. There are a couple that really struck me. The one of Jim in Coach Pop Warner's office. He has his head down and is holding his hands behind his back. Even though he isn't in trouble, he has to show he is respectful and lesser than the white man even though he is the great Jim Thorpe. The other is the last, two-page illustration that shows the Carlisle players on the train home from the Army game, excitedly going over the plays.
The last line in the book is my favorite
I love that Coulson tells a little bit about the other players of the 1912 Carlisle Indians Varsity Team at the back of the book.
I think this book is good for young readers who love football and those who don't know football. And Native kids who have heard of Jim Thorpe and other kids who haven't. I don't even have small complaints. It is a great biography that should be read and shared many times over. It is definitely an #ownvoices book. I really think a Native POV (Coulson is Cherokee) on Jim Thorpe's life and career shows an intimate understanding that outsiders lack even if they are well-meaning and do lots of research.
I do NOT think the miseries of Jim's life and the forced assimilation of Native children should take front and center in the book. They are always there. We feel that. This does justice to the ways Jim survived and celebrated and achieved in his life. That's what I needed to find as a 17 year old Miccosukee guy with my own obstacles and successes.
HIGHLY RECOMMENED! A+++++
I am looking forward to reading Coulson's book THE CREATOR'S GAME: A STORY OF BAAGA'ADOWE/LACROSSE next.
I was assigned to write a review of UNSTOPPABLE: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army. The book is written by Art Coulson and illustrated by Nick Hardcastle.
Even though the cover looked cool and the book isn't too long, I was still intimidated to do it, because I'm dyslexic. But it turned out to be a great read that didn't frustrate me at all. As a matter of fact, it's one of my new favorite books. Let me explain why.
I have CP, that's cerebral palsy. I get around in a chair. And I play some sports. But I really like watching games and listening to them being called. Coulson did an excellent job of making me feel like I was at the Carlisle-Army Game. He is obviously also a sports fan, and can keep up the tension and excitement of the game.
I think he did an amazing job of getting young readers to know Jim Thorpe. He doesn't just seem like a legend (Olympian gold medalist and football star), but a real person, a Native/Sauk boy and man. I think people who do great things often have obstacles and they are not perfect supermen. Coulson shows this is true about Thorpe. He was too small. People laughed at him when he wanted to play football. We find out in the back of the book that Jim was beaten by his father and had many tragedies in his life.
The Carlisle School was a really bad place where Native people were stripped of their hair, clothing, languages, anything that made them Native. I was shocked by the note in the back that says that of the 10,000 students who attended Carlisle, only 158 graduated.
Coulson shows the hardship in Jim's life, but he also shows the things he loved to do--hunt, fish, ride horses. That made me feel close to Jim and better understand who he really was.
The illustrations are excellent. Some are exciting. Some are depressing. They go well with the text. There are a couple that really struck me. The one of Jim in Coach Pop Warner's office. He has his head down and is holding his hands behind his back. Even though he isn't in trouble, he has to show he is respectful and lesser than the white man even though he is the great Jim Thorpe. The other is the last, two-page illustration that shows the Carlisle players on the train home from the Army game, excitedly going over the plays.
The last line in the book is my favorite
--"Quarterback Gus Welch looked at his roommate, Jim Thorpe, and smiled, remembering every hit and tackle. "That, he said, "was the rattling of the bones."
I love that Coulson tells a little bit about the other players of the 1912 Carlisle Indians Varsity Team at the back of the book.
I think this book is good for young readers who love football and those who don't know football. And Native kids who have heard of Jim Thorpe and other kids who haven't. I don't even have small complaints. It is a great biography that should be read and shared many times over. It is definitely an #ownvoices book. I really think a Native POV (Coulson is Cherokee) on Jim Thorpe's life and career shows an intimate understanding that outsiders lack even if they are well-meaning and do lots of research.
I do NOT think the miseries of Jim's life and the forced assimilation of Native children should take front and center in the book. They are always there. We feel that. This does justice to the ways Jim survived and celebrated and achieved in his life. That's what I needed to find as a 17 year old Miccosukee guy with my own obstacles and successes.
HIGHLY RECOMMENED! A+++++
I am looking forward to reading Coulson's book THE CREATOR'S GAME: A STORY OF BAAGA'ADOWE/LACROSSE next.
*Thanks to Eduardo and Alexis for helping me with this review.
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