The Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage receives a riveting review in Brown’s latest work. Passengers’ perilous experiences aboard the doomed vessel, from those traveling in luxury to the third-class guests, unfold as the taut writing exposes the floundering attempts to save the passengers, punctuated by quotations from survivors. Double-page spreads capture the turmoil; thin lines and darkened eyes depict the mass terror even as the expressive watercolors build to the waves’ crashing climax. Clear and accessible language describes the controversy surrounding the sinking and the alarming number of lower-class casualties. “For no reason other than the stubborn notion that the poor shouldn’t mix with the rich, not even in the face of calamity, they had been kept below.” In a companion title, Let It Begin Here (ISBN: 978-1-59643-221-5), the events leading to the American Revolution and the monumental milestones of this tumultuous period are captured. Both books include bibliographies, but there is no specific documentation for quoted material. These suspenseful and fast-paced nonfiction selections provide arresting snapshots of history. (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59643-222-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2008
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
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