Becoming Muhammad Ali

Becoming Muhammad Ali is a 2019 novel by Kwame Alexander and James Patterson. It is a work of biographical and historical fiction, as it presents a fictionalized account of Cassius Clay’s childhood that draws on real events. Both authors have written middle grade novels before, including He Said, She Said (2013), The Crossover (2014), and Booked (2016) from Alexander and the Middle School series from James Patterson. The Crossover won a Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Honor. Becoming Muhammad Ali was longlisted for the 2022-2023 Indian Young Hoosier Book Award and nominated for the 2021-2022 Black-Eyed Susan Book Award.

Becoming Muhammad Ali spans the years 1954 to 1958, and it centers on how elements of Cassius Clay’s childhood laid the foundation for his adulthood, describing not only Clay’s beginnings as a boxer but the racism that permeated Louisville, Kentucky, where he grew up. The book was written in cooperation with the Muhammad Ali estate, which provided the authors with access to critical sources like oral histories to help them paint an accurate picture of a young Muhammad Ali’s life. It is divided into ten rounds, emulating the ten rounds of a boxing bout.

This study guide refers to the 2020 edition published by Jimmy Patterson Books, an imprint of Little Brown and Company.