Never at a loss for words during his career as a professional prize fighter, former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali is lending his name to a series of children's books intended to help motivate and empower young students, especially boys.

Ironic, because Muhammad Ali had to overcome dyslexia as a child to learn how to read and write. The books are meant to foster an interest in reading and help young students become accomplished readers.

Scholastic Corp.'s "Muhammad Ali Presents Go the Distance" features books that champion Ali's values and are aimed at socially disadvantaged students in grades 3 to 8 who believe neither reading nor education is relevant to their lives, says Lonnie Ali, the boxing legend's wife.

"The foundation of all education is reading," she said. "Books can take a child outside of his immediate vicinity, his immediate environment, to someplace else. It makes them learn about other communities outside of their immediate neighborhoods. That's one of the things this particular library has been designed to do: to take children on that next journey out."

The collection includes a wide range of multicultural fiction and nonfiction books that generally reflect the interests of young boys in underserved classrooms because, on average, they read far less than their female counterparts.

Some of the titles in the collection include: "Stealing Home: The Story of Jackie Robinson" about the legendary athlete who broke baseball's color barrier; "Hunterman and the Crocodile," a folk tale from west Africa; "White Star: A Dog on the Titanic," about a young boy and a dog who bond while aboard the doomed ocean liner; and "Touching Spirit Bear," a story of a young boy's journey from self-destructive anger to forgiveness.

"A lot of it has to do with subject material -- getting the interest of the child, to make them read," Lonnie Ali said. "The more you make a child read, the more they are motivated. The more motivation they have, the more they seek out books to read and the more they become empowered by what they read and empowered with what they can do."

The collection wouldn't be complete without an Ali book, so Scholastic also included "The Champ: The Story of Muhammad Ali."

"Going the Distance" also introduces a new generation to the former boxer, which delights him immensely, his wife said.

Having Muhammad Ali's name associated with the collection gives it instant credibility, said Francesann Lightsy, principal of the James M. Grimes Performing Arts Magnet School in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Under a pilot program, fifth-graders at the school started using the books about a month before the collection's official launch.

"Sometimes parent involvement is a challenge, but Muhammad Ali is a common denominator between generations," said Lightsy. "He bridges the gaps in a lot of ways for us. I'll be able to get parents involved, and I think Scholastic will be able to develop this program far beyond what it currently is."

Lightsy credits the books with, in just a few weeks, giving several boys at the school a completely different outlook on reading and education.

"Boys have a tendency, no matter where they're from, to want to be powerful," she said. "Boys kind of glamorize physical types of activities -- basketball, football, boxing. So to have a reading series that is presented by Muhammad Ali, it almost makes it OK to read because this really powerful, cool dude is saying, 'It's OK to read, it's good to read.’ It brings about a different mind-set."

(Xinhua News Agency via Agencies December 5, 2006)