Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Footbal Team

 

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
by Steve Sheinkin
Roaring Book Press, 2017. Nonfiction. 280 p.

Jim Thorpe was the son two mixed American Indian/European parents. He attended the Carlisle Indian School which had as its purpose to eradicate the "Indian" part of its students. Jim hated school and often ran away, until he was recruited to be on the school's track team.  From there he joined the football team and under the coaching of Pop Warner, the team became one of the best collegiate teams in the country. Recognizing Jim's amazing athletic talent, Warner encouraged Jim to try out for the 1912 Olympic team.  He made it onto the team and ended up winning the gold in the pentathlon and decathlon.

Here is a great nonfiction book for football fans and non-fans alike. Sheinkin shows how Warner helped football evolve from an unrestrained brawn brawl to the complex and much safer game it is today. He also explores the complicated relationship between the Carlisle School, the coach, and the students like Thorpe in relation to the cultural annihilation practiced at the Indian schools at the time.  Although this is in the adult nonfiction section, it will also appeal to sports or history loving teens.