Overview
A KNOCKOUT OF A BOOK about the world's most famous gym.
"At Gleason's Gym the world works out. It's down on the Brooklyn waterfront just a left hook away from the Brooklyn Bridge." This spectacular book puts you smack in the middle of the action. But it's more than a book about boxing: It's about the heart of a community, and about the power of practice, perseverance, and staying true to yourself. Paintings, sketches and words by Caldecott Honor artist and former professional wrestler Ted Lewin are your guide to this extraordinary place.
Synopsis
The noise and smell of sweat hit you in the face like a roundhouse right. Smack of gloves on focus pads, squeak of soles on canvas, the music of the gym...
Step inside Gleason's, the world's most famous boxing gym, home to legendary champions like Muhammad Ali and Jake La Motta. It's also home to Sugar Ray, at nine years old the best little fighter around. But this is more than a book about boxing. It's about an extraordinary place where everybody trains--moms and their daughters, fathers and sons, kickboxers from Thailand and big burly wrestlers. It's also a book about practice and perseverance.
Your guide to this extraordinary establishment is award-winning author, artist and former professional wrestler Ted Lewin, whose rich and vivid paintings put you smack in the middle of the action.
The Washington Post - Abby McGanney Nolan
…a gorgeous tribute in deep, rich watercolors to the place where boxing legends such as Muhammad Ali and Jake La Motta once trained…Lewin delivers four knock-out, double-page scenes of boxers sparring, jumping rope and shadowboxing "with monsters in fun-house mirrors."
Editorials
Abby McGanney Nolan
…a gorgeous tribute in deep, rich watercolors to the place where boxing legends such as Muhammad Ali and Jake La Motta once trained…Lewin delivers four knock-out, double-page scenes of boxers sparring, jumping rope and shadowboxing "with monsters in fun-house mirrors."—The Washington Post
Leonard S. Marcus
Lewin, who comes from a family of professional wrestlers, has the chops as a watercolorist and draftsman to convey the fever-pitch action in Gleason's, which occupies a sprawling loft near the Brooklyn Bridge. Boxing prowess may not be everyone's dream. But who would dispute Sugar Boy's father's larger goal for his son: "a good brain in a good body"?—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
In both words and pictures, Lewin (I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler) effectively evokes the sounds, smells and action of Gleason's Gym, a celebrated boxing gym located "on the Brooklyn waterfront just a left hook away from the Brooklyn Bridge." The author sets the scene in fittingly staccato prose: "Heavy bags swing wildly. Speed bags blur. Start of a round. Squeak of soles on canvas, the music of the gym." World champions, including Muhammad Ali and Jake La Motta, have trained at this gym, which "builds bodies, confidence and courage." This place is "a mass of men, women, and kids dancing, bobbing, weaving and jabbing," among them nine-year old Sugar Boy, "the best little fighter around," who is training for the state Silver Glove championships. Under the watchful eye of his father, a professional fighter, this dedicated young athlete spars with a middleweight pro, shadowboxes around the ring, punches focus pads and engages in a three-round training session. The author concludes this visit on a satisfying note, as a caption underneath a portrait of a triumphant Sugar Boy explains that he went on to become a 2006 National Silver Gloves Champion. Lewin portrays the gym's goings-on in full-color paintings of varying clarity as well as in pencil sketches, a combination that gives the volume ample motion yet an inconsistent look. Still, aspiring fighters and youngsters with an interest in boxing will appreciate witnessing Sugar Boy's tireless training from ringside seats. Ages 5-9. (Aug.)
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