Bright Path: Young Jim Thorpe (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Bright Path: Young Jim Thorpe Elizabeth Bush Brown, Don Bright Path: Young Jim Thorpe; written and illus. by Don Brown. Roaring Brook, 200640p ISBN 1-59643-041-9$17.95 R 6-9 yrs Although the experiences of a boy sent away from his home to board at a school determined to strip him of his cultural roots may seem remote to most of Brown's audience, certainly the boy's desire to be out of the classroom and onto the sports field is easy to grasp. Brown traces Thorpe's early years from his rough life at Indian schools and his flights from the constraints of strict military-style education to the eventual discovery of his athletic prowess by Pop Warner at the Carlisle School. Readers follow his achievements in track, baseball, and football through his gold medal wins at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, ending with his legendary response at the award presentation, "Thanks, King." It's the perfect note on which to conclude a story; unfortunately, it leaves so much still to be told that the endnote is a daunting four columns of densely spaced, undersized text, which holds less glamorous truths about Thorpe's troubled relationship with his father, the revocation of his medals (for professional play at minor-league baseball), their posthumous reinstatement, and his diminished celebrity in later years (one might also wish Brown had made a stronger statement in his closing note about the controversy that continues to swirl around the Indian schools). Brown musters his signature watercolor and finely scratched line style to capture the vast, wide-open landscape in which Thorpe thrived and to contrast it with the cramped interior classroom and guardroom against which he rebelled. Adults may need to supplement the story with data from appended material, but children will be drawn to the lively watercolor action scenes and the story of a kid who'd rather be anywhere but behind a desk. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois