Strong Man: The Story of Charles Atlas (review)

You work out to lose weight, right? Not Italian immigrant Angelo Siciliano, the original "97-pound weakling" who later transformed himself into he-man Charles Atlas. His "dynamic tension" exercising was the path to a muscular body and good health. In this light-hearted picture-book account, McCarthy traces his career from scrawny to brawny, relishing the many not-quite-verifiable tales that comprise his sketchy biography. Did a bully really humiliate him in front of his girlfriend at the beach? Just what were his ideal measurements, written down and sealed in a vault at Oglethorpe University? Atlas' eyes bulge as prominently as his muscles in the acrylic cartoon illustrations, heavily outlined in black, that portray him in many moments of fully flexed glory—pulling a railroad car, posing for one of the dozens of civic statues for which he modeled, ripping up a phone book, leading his staff in exercises on the beach. A concluding biographical note admits that much extant "biography" of Atlas is pretty hopelessly mired in legend, but that won't stop readers from enjoying the feats of strength noted herein or even attempting a little bodybuilding on their own, following the four exercise routines included courtesy of a pair of physical therapists, not apparently of the Atlas method itself. Pair this with Debon's The Strongest Man In the World: Louis Cyr (BCCB 5/07) for a perfectly proportioned readaloud.