Marshall Taylor stunts landed him a job at the famous Indiana bike shop Hay and Willits. Everyone was amazed at Marshall Taylor when he was thirteen years old. They wonder why Marshall is such a good cyclist. Marshall Taylor went pro at eighteen. He won the world championship title three years later. Marshall Taylor was a true American hero who battled racism. I learned that he was dedicated, talented, and fast in bicycling. No wonder why his name is Major Taylor because his speed was unbelievable. I enjoyed this book because it was inspiring to see the first black fastest bicycle rider in the world. He set new world records and he never gave up, he kept on pushing to win. This story involved so many important details leading up to Marshall becoming a major cyclist. This story was organized and well written. ( )

I really enjoyed this story, it involved every important detail leading up to Marshall becoming Major Cyclist and then on racing his heart out. Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of him. Yet, by the end of it, I felt as if being alongside him in the way Ransome wrote him, complemented perfectly by Lesa's illustrations. I learned that he became involved in the bicycle world by being hired for cleaning and his bike tricks when he was first 13. and at the same age of 13 he won his first race - ahead of others by a mile. He became Munger's personal assistant and even moved with him to train, faced race issues in states that were not as ahead as his hometown, and still persevered and became known as the fastest rider in the world. I wish, however, that it detailed his life following. I am sure it peaked at the point of him winning, but I wanted to know more about where he had ended up. ( )

I had no idea who Major Taylor was before reading this book. I myself enjoy bike riding. I enjoyed reading this book about a boy who grew up working in a bike shop and became a world champion but also faced a lot of racism and mockery. He overcame all these obstacles and did what he love, cycling!

First the facts. Major Taylor, born Marshall Taylor, grew up in the late 1800s and managed to become a competitive cyclist in the United States despite the nations prejudicial treatment of black people at the time. He became the Cycling Champion of the World despite facing isolation, insults, and violence on and off the track. I am an avid cyclist, and I love the story of Major Taylor, he is a hero in the vein of Jackie Robinson, but from an era far, far more dangerous for black people in America.
So how the heck to you screw such a story up? Is it correct to leave race almost entirely out of a book about a man who was a hero not just because of his athleticism, but because of his unwillingness to be held back by the constraints then in place on black people in the United States? And for whom is this book written. Verbs are active when you expect passive, and vice-versa, a flair of the authors that makes this almost impossible to read aloud to students, and had me stumbling even when I went back and read it to myself. Calling a bike a "fancy mount" may add to the richness of the books language, but the use of the word mount as a synonym for bicycle is obscure and confusing. Lots of sentences were confusing, like "Hey, son, that was some stunt work.", or "How did a thirteen-year-old black boy in 1891 come to be such a crackerjack cyclist-or even own a bicycle?" This sentence, the book's first mention of race, is confusing in that it brings race to the forefront without any preamble, and is followed by explaining that he lived with rich white people for a while, without explaining the complex dynamics and reasons behind why this allowed him access to a bike. In fact, every mention of race in this book is off-balance and goes largely unexplained. "As the only Negro..." begins a sentence, the use of the word Negro seeming to be natural today given the way the author places it in the book. And on top of this, major events happen out of nowhere. On one page, Taylor is in smaller races around the country, with no explanation of the process of becoming a champion, and then the next page he's the World Champ. How?
I am not sure who would be able to read this book and not end up confused. It would take a very literate young person to navigate the strange syntax, the subtleties and complexities of the author's approach to race, and the non-sequitur style of chronological retelling. I will not be using this book in my classroom. ( )

A boy went from simply delivering the newspaper on his bicycle to being the best cyclist in the world. Marshall got his nickname "Major" because he did tricks in front of the Hay and Willits Bicycle Shop wearing a military outfit. Major Taylor won his first bike race at the age of 13. Through his whole cycling career Major Taylor took the high rode even when the other cyclist tried to threaten him. And his hard work and dedication to the sport payed off. ( )