sports odds

Long before Lance Armstrong, there was another American cyclist who overcame adversity and trounced the competition in France. He was the 1899 world cycling champion, and he was black. His story is told in one of two remarkable picture books celebrating African American sports heroes.
Major Taylor: Champion Cyclist by the Coretta Scott King Award-winning team of Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrator James E. Ransome (Atheneum; 32 pages; $16.95; ages 6-up) profiles Marshall Taylor, an Indianapolis boy born in 1878, who learned to ride a bike as a child while serving as a companion to a wealthy white boy (Taylor's father worked as the family's coachman). At 13, he gets a job at a bicycle shop that includes doing stunts on his bike to attract customers. The owner outfits him in a military coat for his performances; hence the "major" nickname.
Taylor starts racking up wins in races, and a national racing champ brings him to Massachusetts for training. Taylor turns professional at 18, but his success on the track is shadowed by discrimination. "All of the large purses won in races all over the country couldn't buy him a meal in a restaurant or a room in a hotel," writes Cline-Ransome, on a page that shows a "whites only" sign on a restaurant window. Entry forms for races in Louisville, St. Louis and even Indianapolis read "For White Riders Only."
As the only African American granted membership in the League of American Wheelmen, Taylor can compete on any track. Yet once there, white riders taunt him and even poke and jab him during races and try to box him out. Still, he keeps scoring victories, eventually winning the 1899 world championship, and then moving on to compete in France, where he is known as "le Nègre Volant," the Flying Negro. There he competes against the 1900 World Championship winner, first losing, and then, in a rematch, beating him.
The racing events are described with nail-biting tension and excitement, and Ransome's vivid paintings capture a wide range of emotions, from youthful earnestness to adult chagrin, to the thrill of athletic victory.
Contemporary National Football League heroes are celebrated in By My Brother's Side by Tiki and Ronde Barber with Robert Burleigh, and illustrated by Barry Root (Simon & Schuster; 32 pages; $16.95), the story of twin boys who do everything together, including winning ballgames, until a summer bike accident at a construction site puts Tiki on the disabled list. His leg is so mangled, the doctor thinks he may never be able to play sports again. Ronde stays by Tiki's bed during his convalescence, and by football season Tiki's ready to join Ronde on the field. After a practice, they talk about their dream of someday playing in the Super Bowl and tell their mother about it when she picks them up. "Well," she says. "Maybe. If you work hard enough.''
The book ends after the first game of their season that year, when the twins appear to be 10 or 11 years old. In fact, each did grow up to play in the Super Bowl: Tiki in 2000, as a member of the New York Giants, and Ronde in 2001 as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's a simple yet inspirational story that focuses on a kid's will to achieve, bolstered by his brother's love and his mother's unwavering support.