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Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team | Steve Sheinkin
24 posts | 16 read | 12 to read
Jim Thorpe: Super athlete, Olympic gold medalist, Native American Pop Warner: Indomitable coach, football mastermind, Ivy League grad Before these men became legends, they met in 1907 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called "the team that invented football," they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools such as Harvard and the Army in a series of breathtakingly close calls, genius plays, and bone-crushing hard work. Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team is an astonishing underdog sports story and more. It s an unflinching look at the U.S. government s violent persecution of Native Americans and the school that was designed to erase Indian cultures. Expertly told by three-time National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin, it s the story of a group of young men who came together at that school, the overwhelming obstacles they faced both on and off the field, and their absolute refusal to accept defeat."
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Daisey
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#MiddleGradeMonday Olympic nonfiction edition!

When I saw the prompt was for a book about an athlete, I immediately thought of the books about Jim Thorpe and Simone Biles on my nonfiction shelf. Then I realized I have books about these other two Olympic gold medalists as well.

I‘m tagging Undefeated as it‘s the only one I‘ve actually read myself and it‘s a fantastic book.

#MiddleGrade #MsDsLibrary

Karisimo These are great! I have read Simone Biles‘s book! Thanks for posting!! 5mo
48 likes1 comment
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CaitZ
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Eggs Love the story of Jim Thorpe! 2y
21 likes1 comment
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Hunterwaterchief34
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Pickpick

I think this is a great book! Definitely a good read when you can‘t find a book.

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Daisey
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September #BookSpinBingo
There are some really amazing stories in the books I read this month, with the tagged probably being my favorite new read of the month.

#ReadingStats #MonthlyStats

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Daisey
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Pickpick

I‘m not much of a sports person, but this book was phenomenal. It discusses history of residential schools for Native Americans, relates the history of the development of American football, and clearly describes tense and exciting moments of football games that happened over 100 years ago. It is much more than simply a biography of Jim Thorpe, although it provides plenty of detail about his life.

#nonfiction #audiobook #YA

betsyhaddox Thanks for the compelling review! 3y
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cozypunk
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Pickpick

A biography of the Carlisle School for Indians and their innovative football team, including Jim Thorpe - the first world-famous athlete of color. Don't know about football's early history? OR don't know about the US Govt's cultural annihilation of Native Americans under the pretense of boarding schools? You'll learn something either way! Both are unqiuely American, and both shape modern American life, for better and for worse. #dw2020reads

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Hguo
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So far Undefeated is a pretty good book, the start is a little rough and long but from what I‘ve read it‘s a pretty good book. Would definitely recommend to people who like football and even sports in general.

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Everettsuggit
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Pickpick

This book is about the first football players and who they were. It has a lot of descriptive gore parts in the book.

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UnabridgedPod
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Pickpick

Steve Sheinkin is a master of YA nonfiction. As in Most Dangerous, he examines a small moment to draw larger conclusions about the U.S. In this case, Sheinkin's focus is a early 1900s football team that came both to revolutionize football and to communicate much about the place of Native Americans in modern America. Jim Thorpe, the star of the team, had been removed from his family as part of the greater cultural attempt (continued in comments)

UnabridgedPod to remove Indian children from their families and integrate them. Coached by Pop Warner, Thorpe leads the team as they take on elite schools who represent the height of American culture. The narrative style of the book makes it a great YA read, and I appreciated the narration in the audiobook.

Has anyone else read any books by Steve Sheinkin? Which would you recommend?
6y
cozypunk I'd recommend Bomb by Sheinkin. Full of tension and espionage. 4y
UnabridgedPod @dandy.punk Thank you for the rec! I really enjoyed Most Dangerous, too, which I read more recently. 4y
11 likes3 comments
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Peddler410
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I started this book on July 10th. The next day I found out we would be having a conversation on 7/12 with hospice care for my dad 😢 By 3:00 am July 14 my dad passed peacefully.

I‘m liking this #Caudill2019 title very much but I just can‘t seem to read more than a chapter at a time. So it‘s time to move on. I‘m going to try a title by one on my dad‘s favorite MG/YA authors.

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emtobiasz
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#yawednesday This book is a great #ya #nonfiction for anyone interested in football or American history! Whether you know next to nothing about the subjects or consider yourself an expert, you‘ll learn something new here. Plus, it‘s compulsively readable— this is definitely novelistic in a lot of ways.

TheFunkyBookworm I NEED this for my guys- they are football OBSESSED! Thank you! 🏈 📚 7y
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Abby2
Pickpick

Great coverage of footballs beginnings. Very good book for middle grade readers who are fearful of nonfiction.

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emtobiasz
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I'm enjoying this book much more than I anticipated, considering how very little I know or care about football. But Jim Thorpe is a fascinating person, I lived in Carlisle for a bit, and the Indian schools that sought to "civilize" students are too little discussed today. This is great YA nonfiction, which I read too little of.

Plus, is this not the most fall thing ever? Chili, cornbread, football, and a beer?

LeahBergen Yum!! 7y
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Jolynne
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Pickpick

I wanted a more in-depth story of the suffering of thousands of Native Peoples that took place at Carlisle Indian School and the other schools like it. I wanted more of that history rather than Pop Warner and Eisenhower. But in the end, the final chapter the author touched on this and many issues that still exist today so I decided to give this the five stars that it deserves. (Continued below)

Jolynne After all, it is a book about Jim Thorpe and the athleticism that was shown by the early football players of Carlisle and their contribution to what is today‘s football. It is a history lesson about an unrecognized group of Native men that, as usual, has gone unrecognized by American Society.
I hope millions read this book and realize what true honor, resect, and pride truly are. It is not the name of a certain D.C. team.
(edited) 8y
JazzFeathers They say Jim Thorpe was the ultimate athlete. He might have breen. He sure was a man of worth. 8y
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brownekr
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Pickpick

Overall:
++More about Carlisle football, & less about just Thorpe, than I'd expected; I dug it.
++EXCELLENT rec for anyone interested in football--the things the Indians pioneered are amazing.
++I've learned that many Education students I work with have made it to senior year completely ignorant of the residential schools; this is forthright.
--However, saving "but the school was horribly abusive" for bits at the beginning & end felt insufficient.

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brownekr
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Nonfiction, doin' it's job! Appropriate context for teen & adult readers about stereotypes and unquestioning media consumption!

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brownekr
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There are three boys whose faces got sucked into the margin of this book. ☹️ (You can see two half-faces; the arrow is pointing at the ear of the third boy, who is almost totally gone. Publishers: plan ahead!)

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abbylibrarian
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Pickpick

Amazing book. Absolutely great for sports fans or for those who love reading about overlooked figures in history. I find it amazing the now-standard football things that were invented by the Carlisle Indians. A must read for teens who like football or American history or both. It's obvious that Sheinkin made a real effort to get this one right culturally speaking. #readharder #weneeddiversebooks

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abbylibrarian
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Took today off and have spent it shopping and cleaning. Now to relax with Task 1: Read a book about sports. #ReadHarder #WeNeedDiverseBooks

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abbylibrarian
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And under the tree for me? A brand new Kindle Paperwhite from my loving husband!! 😍📚🎄👍❤

MarriedtoMrT Yes! 8y
Reviewsbylola That's awesome! 8y
11 likes2 comments