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Paralympians
The Long Jump: The story of Jean-Baptiste Alaize
This is the true story of Jean-Baptiste Alaize.
Now an exceptional sprinter and long jumper, Jean-Baptiste lost his right leg when he was just three years old during the civil war in Burundi.
When he met his adoptive dad, Robert, Jean-Baptiste had never seen a white man before. But they bonded over the fact that his dad too had lost his right leg in an accident years before.
Through the story of this extraordinary athlete, The Long Jump tackles themes such as transracial adoption, surviving a war, living with a disability, finding your purpose and achieving your dreams.
This is the second title in Paralympians, a children’s book series about 4 of the greatest Paralympic athletes of our time including Russian-American wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden; Iranian archer Zahra Nemati; and Italian fencer Beatrice Vio.
Now an exceptional sprinter and long jumper, Jean-Baptiste lost his right leg when he was just three years old during the civil war in Burundi.
When he met his adoptive dad, Robert, Jean-Baptiste had never seen a white man before. But they bonded over the fact that his dad too had lost his right leg in an accident years before.
Through the story of this extraordinary athlete, The Long Jump tackles themes such as transracial adoption, surviving a war, living with a disability, finding your purpose and achieving your dreams.
This is the second title in Paralympians, a children’s book series about 4 of the greatest Paralympic athletes of our time including Russian-American wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden; Iranian archer Zahra Nemati; and Italian fencer Beatrice Vio.
- GenresSports
44 pages, Hardcover
Published March 15, 2022
About the author
Francesca Cavallo
50 books141 followersFRANCESCA CAVALLO is a twice New York Times bestselling author, a serial entrepreneur, and a public speaker. She's the co-creator of the "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls" book series and the co-founder of Rebel Girls.
In 2018, she won the Publisher's Weekly StarWatch Award.
In 2019, she parted ways with Rebel Girls and started Undercats, Inc. with the mission to radically increase diversity in children's media and inspire families to take action for equality.
In 2020, her short story "Doctor Li and the Crown-wearing Virus" went viral and was translated into 38 languages, becoming the most shared children's story about the pandemic.
Cavallo's books have sold more than 6 million copies and have been translated into 50+ languages. She is a European Young Leader and lives in Rome.
In 2018, she won the Publisher's Weekly StarWatch Award.
In 2019, she parted ways with Rebel Girls and started Undercats, Inc. with the mission to radically increase diversity in children's media and inspire families to take action for equality.
In 2020, her short story "Doctor Li and the Crown-wearing Virus" went viral and was translated into 38 languages, becoming the most shared children's story about the pandemic.
Cavallo's books have sold more than 6 million copies and have been translated into 50+ languages. She is a European Young Leader and lives in Rome.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 21, 2023
“The Long Jump: The story of Jean-Baptiste Alaize” is about his journey leading up to becoming a professional athlete.
The story is linked with Nancy J. Johnson, Melanie D. Koss and Miriam Martinez “Through the Sliding Glass Door: #EmpowerTheReader” by allowing the readers to see themselves. Alaize himself is black child from Africa who was adopted by a French family where he had to change his African name. Not only that, but Alaize had his leg amputated from the civil war happening in his country of Burundi. You are able to connect with him as he had to face losing his family, being a black child in white family, and being disabled. Alaize never let any of this prevent him from achieving his dreams and allowing others to see themselves in him. When in France Alaize is confused seeing no one that looks like him or even names similar to him. The environment was different, resembling nothing of his home country of Brazil. The images throughout the book reflect the new environment Alaize is surrounded with. In his country everyone had the same skin color, but now in France, everyone was white with the buildings being different. His life in Africa is seen covered in flames, until leaving for France.
The story is linked with Nancy J. Johnson, Melanie D. Koss and Miriam Martinez “Through the Sliding Glass Door: #EmpowerTheReader” by allowing the readers to see themselves. Alaize himself is black child from Africa who was adopted by a French family where he had to change his African name. Not only that, but Alaize had his leg amputated from the civil war happening in his country of Burundi. You are able to connect with him as he had to face losing his family, being a black child in white family, and being disabled. Alaize never let any of this prevent him from achieving his dreams and allowing others to see themselves in him. When in France Alaize is confused seeing no one that looks like him or even names similar to him. The environment was different, resembling nothing of his home country of Brazil. The images throughout the book reflect the new environment Alaize is surrounded with. In his country everyone had the same skin color, but now in France, everyone was white with the buildings being different. His life in Africa is seen covered in flames, until leaving for France.
March 9, 2022
A book that should be a success, in snappily showing us how a civil war led to a Burundian lad losing a leg, but a French foster father (also sans half a limb) and much generosity led to him becoming a world-class disabled athlete and Paralympian. Jean-Baptiste (or Mouguicha, as his mother would have known him before the war put paid to her as well) gets his story conveyed in at most a few sentences per page, with dynamic (ie unfortunately for the dyslexic, unusable) font changes. Artwork is in an unusual style, almost using symbols and icons as much as full-on presentation. Starting a new diversity-minded series of young biographies, this shows they know what they're doing.
July 28, 2023
A la edad de tres años, a Jean-Baptiste tuvieron que amputarle la tibia derecha para salvarle la vida, después de que su aldea fuera atacada y su madre perdiera la vida. Alaize estaba triste por la pérdida de su mamá, pero también estaba agradecido porque tenía una pierna para moverse y jugar como lo hacía antes. Jean-Baptiste tuvo que acostumbrarse a vivir en una ciudad completamente distinta a su aldea, a la gente, al miedo a las burlas por la prótesis que utilizaba y ocultaba usando pantalones demasiado flojos, hasta que un día se animó a mostrarle su pierna especial a su maestro de educación física y este lo motivo a cambiarla por una de cuchilla para correr.
Te invito a leer mi reseña en 🔗https://la-lista.com/opinion/2023/08/...
Te invito a leer mi reseña en 🔗https://la-lista.com/opinion/2023/08/...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews