Includes Biographical Note and Bibliography.

This was a thoughtful biography about Michael Jordan and how he spent his childhood overcoming challenges. Jordan was not always the basketball icon that we know him now to be, in fact, he was far from rich and famous while growing up. He grew up with 4 other siblings, including an older brother named Larry that challenged him to be better as a player. ( )

Jump is a great biography of Michael Jordan. I really liked how it started with his young childhood, and showed us how persistent and hard-working he had to be in order to achieve great success. Although this was informative and teaches about his life, it still had a nice story line about his relationship with his family and friends. There is a biographical note in the back that gives us more facts about his life as well. ( )

This is a fun book for young readers in the 4th through 6th grade level. Floyd Cooper retells the boyhood life of Michael "Air" Jordan. We follow Michael Jordan from the household of five-children in North Carolina, to the high-school blacktop, and eventually to stardom in the NBA. Most of the book is centered around the environment of failure in which Michael grew up, leaving the rest of his career in college and the NBA to our imaginations. Cooper chooses to focus on the struggles Michael faced in competition with the rest of his talented siblings. Most of the narrative focuses around his competition with his older brother Larry. Cooper suggests that without the fierce rivalry of his brother, he probably would never have developed those traits of his personality that led him to be a sports superstar. Cooper's portrayal of Jordan's early life as a triumph of determination really impresses young readers. Jordan is still a role-model and legend for many of the students I teach, even though he is not in the public spotlight today.

Most of the students I teach requested this book. A few had even encountered this book before in earlier grades. It is understandable why this book is so mesmerizing--the illustrations are spectacular! In the version of the book I had, there is even a fold-out page of Jordan slam-dunking. The students I teach who read on a 4th through 6th grade level, though, found certain words difficult and passages hard to understand. At these junctures, it is helpful that the subject matter is so engaging. Even if the story does not follow Jordan's life past his high-school years, there is plenty for readers to marvel over. Sometimes the language slips into ungrammatical rural dialect, which can stall a young reader who is expecting to read simple sentences. I'm of half a mind to think this is a good thing, and half a mind to think otherwise. When the readers stumble over these parts of the narrative I have to ask them to pretend the narrator is talking to them in real life (i.e. utterances like "No, no.", sentences that begin with "Trouble was"). I think this is a good thing overall, but if Cooper wanted us to imagine a narrative told by someone speaking rural dialect, he should have clarified this in a frame story, and made the dialect more pervasive. As it stands, the few sentences that contain dialect are confusing for young readers who are reading the book, but not if it is being read to them by an adult. ( )

This story explains Michael Jordan’s childhood and life telling the reader how he became the famous basketball star he is today. I really enjoyed the friendly sibling rivalry explained in the book between Michael and his brother Larry. I feel as though many young children can relate to this situation. This is also a great biography for young readers and will especially interest students who play basketball and can relate to Michael Jordan. The main message of this story is to never underestimate someone's ability. ( )