After that day, Mama stopped putting salt in Michael's shoes,
but Michael did not stop being patient and working hard and praying.
Salt in his Shoes is the biographical account of Michael Jordan's childhood and how he learned to be dedicated, to work hard, to be patient, and to love the sport of basketball. It's hard to think of Michael Jordan as a scrawny little boy living in Wilmington, North Carolina and struggling to keep up with the bigger kids on the basketball court. The book includes a lot of dialogue, particularly between Michael and his mother, who is the co-author of this book (along with his sister!). Michael's mom and sister tell the story of him playing basketball with his older brother and never being tall enough and praying every night to be taller. His mom told him that if he put salt in his shoes and prayed every night, he would hopefully become taller. And although he didn't become taller until the summer before his junior year of high school, he realized that if he worked hard, he could get where he wanted.
I think that this book gives children a perspective into the life of Michael Jordan, and although he's retired from the NBA, he still is infamous for his incredible basketball skills, his dedication, and his magical story. It also lets children know that not everything happens simply because we wish for it. We have to work hard, be patient, and have faith that things will work out in the end. We have to work for it. Teaching children that lesson at an early age is incredibly important. While I was cooking dinner one night, I had a friend over to my apartment, and he picked up this book. Even at the age of 21, he sat and read the entire thing and then said, "Well, looks like I'm ordering this when I go home." He talked about how he wished he'd had that book in his classroom as a child. Because this book features such a prominent NBA figure who so many children know, I think it would be a fantastic book to get boys who are frustrated with reading in elementary school to read.
The illustrations in the book are somewhat "old school" and really make the reader feel that they've been transported back in time to Michael Jordan's childhood, which I liked. I do think that they could have been a little less "cartoon-ish", however. Because Michael Jordan is such a well-known star, I knew what I expected the illustrations of his childhood to be like. And this wasn't what I pictured. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't what I imagined it to be. The illustrator did do a fantastic job, however, of making sure that her version of Michael looked like Michael as a child, which I liked.
This book provided a different feel to the biographies that I'm used to, and I liked it. I don't think it's the best book in the world, but I do think it's a great for helping incite reading in children who wouldn't normally care.
And now, for a little MJ inspiration...
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