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They had a train safety video to show – safety in the yard, keeping away from the cars, no jumping trains, etc. – that was as realistic and as bloody as any Drivers Education film that I had ever seen. After that lesson, they showed an animated movie, “The Little Engine That Could.” I winced, certain that our kids – tough as nails – would laugh our visitors out of the room. I was wrong. Much to my amazement, everyone watched intently, stone cold silent, entranced. That’s when I realized: everyone needs their stories. “The Little Engine” spoke to the kids that school year like little else had before. I thought of that as I was reading Ellington and Crawford’s I’mpossible, sub-titled ChessLife Strategies™ for Children & Young Adults.
With the help of bright and understanding parents who always had his back and always had faith in him, Ali is able to transition with his friends to eventually take their battles to the chessboard, where his name Ellington became equally respected, and where he became known as “the Duke of chess.” I very much enjoyed I’mpossible, and found the tale of the five monkeys and the story of the books’ title to be especially enlightening. If this is the first in a series of stories, I’m ready for the next one! A chapter book with pictures, I’mpossible can be read by older elementary students on up through high school, or read to (or with) younger students.
The grown-up Ellington has developed the Chess Test Tutors program, which uses stories, songs and humor to “promote education, heighten cognition and ignite the fun in learning.” So far, 60,000 students in the greater Los Angeles area have benefited not only learning chess skills but following Ali’s father’s dictum: “I am more concerned with developing ‘life’ masters than I am in developing ‘chess’ masters.”
I encourage you to visit the Duke of Chess website, to feel the full impact of Ellington’s work – it will carry you away. I’m sure that the grumpy Ben Kingsley character in the “Searching for Bobby Fischer” movie would be appalled…
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Kyseme
Ali Ellington’s story, “inspired by actual events”, tells the tale of young
Ali, whose name recalled that of the heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad
Ali, and which guaranteed that he would be called to fight in his
neighborhood, where boxing was “an all-consuming passion.”
By
the way, hats off to illustrator Doyin Adwole, whose colorful drawings add
an extra punch to the story. And a tip of the hat to the folks at
History Magazine, who gave the author permission to reprint 4 pages on the
history of the library! (In the beginning, Ali didn’t dare let
anyone know that he went to – and liked – the library.)
