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Be Water, My Friend: The Early Years of Bruce Lee by Ken Mochizuki, illustrated by Dom Lee (Lee & Low Books, 2006)
A master of Kung fu, Chinese American Bruce Lee turned the West on to martial arts.
The Bruce Lee Foundation preserves the legacy of Bruce Lee.
Strong Man: The Story of Charles Atlas by Meghan McCarthy (Knopf, 2007)
Angelo Siciliano was a one-man revolution for fitness. Tired of being a weak and skinny kid, Angelo embarked on a quest for physical health. A trip to a local museum where he saw a statue of Hercules, and a visit to his favorite thinking place, the zoo, where he watched a lion stretch his muscles fueled Siciliano’s inspiration. He took a new name to go with his new muscles—Charles Atlas—and was ultimately named “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man.” Atlas inspired millions to exercise, eat right and live right.
Print out a copy of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans [PDF Version - 7.8 MB) to learn more about keeping healthy.
Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer by Bill Wise, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth (Lee & Low, 2007)
Sockalexis, the first Native American major league baseball player, won the hearts of fans with his incredible skill, but the prejudice he faced on the field and off was intense. A note in the Afterword mentions that almost fifty years after Sockalexis’ rookie year, African American Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the major leagues.
Visit the Official Site of the Cleveland Indians, Sockalexis’ team, then known as the Cleveland Spiders.
Young Pele: Soccer’s First Star by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James E. Ransome (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2007)
Soccer was Pele’s passion from an early age. He played and dreamed and dreamed and played, all the while honing his skills and talent. When he finally had the opportunity to play in a youth soccer tournament, he saw that it would be possible for him, a child from humble means, to achieve his goal.
ESPN posts a biography of the “King of Futbol” on their site.
America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle by David A. Adler, illustrated by Terry Widener (Harcourt, 2000, Voyager, 2005 reprint)
It’s twenty-one miles across the English Channel and in 1926, an American named Gertrude Ederle was the first woman to successfully swim across it. In the process she beat the men’s record by almost two hours.
Sports Illustrated for Women named Ederle one of the Top 100 Women Athletes.
