Lakers legend Elgin Baylor made headlines for the innovative way he played basketball. As one of the first professional Black players, he also made headlines for the way he stood up against racism. Above the Rim is Sibert Medal-winner Jen Bryant's enlightening biography of Baylor, a civil rights and sports hero.
In the summer of 1945, young Elgin played basketball in parks designated "whites only." Anybody who played with him noticed his style--jumping, soaring and flying through the air. While in college, the world around Baylor changed: Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and nine Black students enrolled at an all-white high school in Little Rock, Ark. In 1958, Baylor was the Minneapolis Lakers' first pick. He spent nights sleeping uncomfortably on trains and played even when he was sick or injured. Baylor also suffered the indignity of not being allowed into most hotels or restaurants because he was Black. Baylor fought back; at the next game, he sat down and refused to play until he received the same rights as his white teammates. Fans around the world noticed Baylor take his stand.
Bryant (The Right Word; Six Dots) displays her nonfiction skills once again in this accessible, poetic story of a basketball great. Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award winner Frank Morrison's oil illustrations work perfectly to display the beauty of Baylor's fluid, "above the rim" style of play. Through his palette and extraordinary depiction of light, Morrison (Jazzy Miz Mozetta), highlights the beauty of Black skin--and the importance of figures like Elgin Baylor. --Kharissa Kenner, children's librarian, Bank Street School for Children