Jim Thorpe, Original All-American

by Joseph Bruchac

Overview

Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes who ever lived.

He played professional football and Major League baseball, and won Olympic gold medals in track and field. But his life wasn't easy. Born on a reservation, he endured family tragedy and was sent to various Native American boarding schools. Jim ran away from school many times, until he found his calling under the now-legendary coach Pop Warner. This is a book for history buffs as well as sports fans—an illuminating and lively read about a truly great American by award-winning author Joseph Bruchac.

"The novel is a superb blend of fiction and nonfiction, rooted in the author's usual careful research."—Kirkus Reviews 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142412336
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	10/02/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	122,973
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	950L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed children's book author, poet, novelist and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. Coauthor with Michael Caduto of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series, Bruchac's poems, articles and stories have appeared in hundreds of publications, from Akwesasne Notes and American Poetry Review to National Geographic and Parabola. He has authored many books for adults and children including Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two, Skeleton Man, and The Heart of a Chief. For more information about Joseph, please visit his website www.josephbruchac.com.

Table of Contents

1 You Can Call Me Jim 1
2 Running Away 7
3 The Finest Game in the World 12
4 Carlisle's Visit 19
5 Back Home 24
6 Garden Grove 28
7 Off to Carlisle 35
8 Follow the Trolley Tracks 39
9 Cadet Thorpe 45
10 The Routine 49
11 Outing 54
12 Clearing the Bar 63
13 Keep a-Goin' 67
14 Ex 73
15 Summer at Carlisle 77
16 Nobody Tackles Jim 81
17 The World of the Football Boys 89
18 Indian Field 95
19 First Touchdown 100
20 The Association 114
21 Doing Well 119
22 Oklahoma Summer 127
23 Warm-Up Games 135
24 The Toughest Season 141
25 The Reluctant Track Star 148
26 Summer Ball 156
27 Being Missed 162
28 Tough Seasons 166
29 A Friend for Life 173
30 So Far, So Good 179
31 Iva 185
32 Harvard 192
33 All-American 198
34 Better Than Ever Before 204
35 Olympic Glory 213
36 All Kinds of Opportunities 224
37 The 1912 Season 230
38 Everything Comes to an End 243
39 Disgrace 247
40 Things Come Around 254 Author's Note 263 Bibliography 274

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on meticulous research, Bruchac (Wabi) presents Jim Thorpe's (1887-1953) complex story, focusing on his years at Haskell and Carlisle Indian Schools, as a kind of imagined autobiography. Thorpe excelled at football, baseball and track, winning two gold medals in the 1912 Olympics for the latter. An error-ridden press story stated that he had played summer Class D baseball in North Carolina in 1909 and 1910, earning nominal pay; the piece unleashed a chain of events that culminated in Thorpe signing a proffered "confession" and being stripped of his Olympic honors. By adopting an equanimous, measured voice to serve as Thorpe's first-person narrative, Bruchac shines new light on facets of the Sac and Fox Indian's amateur career, from highlights of Carlisle's wins against college football's greats, to the mishandling of funds endemic at both the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian schools. Bruchac illuminates Thorpe's complicated relationship with his Carlisle football coach, Glenn "Pop" Warner, whose own flaws emerge. (Warner led his winning teams while controlling proceeds from ticket sales and, arguably, Thorpe's amateur status.) In a cogent author's note, Bruchac explains that his research revealed many errors in previous books about Thorpe; and although he calls this a "novelized" account, he quickly points out that "this is not a work of fiction" and "much of the dialogue is taken from research." A selected bibliography and a peppering of period photographs round out an impressive work of scholarship. Ages 10-up. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 6-9-A fictionalized biography. Thorpe spent his life running-running away from school, running on the baseball diamond, running the football, or running to win both the pentathlon and the decathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. His accomplishments, his kindness and consideration of others, his defeats, and his exploitation are related in first-person narration, from his childhood on an Oklahoma reservation to the loss of his Olympic medals for playing on a professional minor-league baseball team. Readers learn about his athletic performances (some related play by play), his triumphs, his friendships, and his hardships through the use of dialogue and description. The trust that Thorpe had in others and his own perseverance show both his personal weaknesses and strengths. While the writing is accessible, Bruchac's use of the first person is likely to mislead or confuse readers. Twelve poor-quality, black-and-white photographs document the subject's time at Carlisle Indian Industrial School and show him receiving the gold medal for the pentathlon from King Gustav V of Sweden.-Janice C. Hayes, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Jim Thorpe was a modern American Indian hero. At Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Thorpe excelled in sports and later became known as the world's greatest athlete. Taking money to play semi-pro baseball one summer in North Carolina led to trumped-up charges that he had become a professional, and he was stripped of the gold medals he had won in the 1912 Olympics. But newspapers came to his defense, and he remained a hero to many people. Following up on his picture book, Jim Thorpe's Bright Path (2004), illustrated by S.D. Nelson, Bruchac has Thorpe tell the story in his own voice. The novel is a superb blend of fiction and nonfiction, rooted in the author's usual careful research. Not just a sports-hero tale, this delves into such important issues as the line between amateur and professional sports, the effect of big-time money on sports, racism and the relationship of Native Americans to a dominant society. (Fiction. 10+)

Kirkus Reviews

Well known for his extensive body of work on Native American legends and history, author Bruchac skillfully narrates his biography of the early years of one of the world’s greatest athletes. Thorpe, a Sac and Fox Indian from Oklahoma, is sent unwillingly to boarding school at an early age and forced to assimilate into white culture. He finally comes into his own when he meets up with Pop Warner, legendary coach at Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian School. Bruchac’s subdued, mellow tone captures Thorpe’s shyness. Bruchac conveys Thorpe’s earnest innocence and pain as he endures the death of both parents and confronts racism in his career. Bruchac’s sympathetic narration creates a character of humility, dignity, and respect. Young listeners should find this story inspiring. M.H.N. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

APR/MAY 08 - AudioFile