An optimistic picture of our progress toward promoting a more perfect union, with an essential tool kit for every current or...
An immigrant’s-eye view of the Constitution’s importance, featuring a transcription of the document into simpler, modern language.
Addressing young readers with a reference to the preamble—“You are the posterity for whom they gathered in Philadelphia”—the Pakistan-born author opens with eloquent praise for the mix of idealism and practicality that permeates both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and has made the Constitution “America’s beating heart.” Along with including the complete texts of both (the Declaration’s “merciless Indian Savages” and all), he goes on to describe the former’s composition, including the “shameful compromise” on slavery, and to explain the resulting structure of our federal government (including the press as an unofficial “fourth branch”). He also offers a less-formal rendition of the Constitution’s articles and amendments (“ensure domestic tranquility” becomes “ensure peace within our borders”) and highlights 13 landmark Supreme Court decisions related to federal powers and personal rights. If he neglects to mention that among the Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson too was a slaveholder or gives short shrift to American immigration law’s checkered (to say the least) history, still he makes a sturdy case for understanding those powers and rights and appreciating their value. Frequent personal asides underline the message, as do his closing suggestions for becoming and remaining politically active and aware.
An optimistic picture of our progress toward promoting a more perfect union, with an essential tool kit for every current or prospective citizen. (index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7091-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
Potentially useful insights for youngsters encountering loss.
Advice on coping with loss, from the death of a family member or a close friend to a beloved pet’s demise to life-changing events such as divorce.
Imperi, a chaplain and thanatologist (“someone who knows about death, dying, grief and loss”), uses her own terminology to distinguish between “deathloss” (“when a person or an animal we love dies”) and “shadowloss” (“the death of something, not someone”). These categories make sense, but kids grieving the death of a loved one may find it difficult to wade through sections about other serious problems. Although the recent pandemic caused many actual deaths, this book describes Covid as a shadowloss, a disrupter of normal life. Imperi mentions a few religious traditions, but the book is primarily concerned with practical ideas and individual experiences. Specific thinking, writing, and creative exercises for moving through the grief process are included. She spotlights five diverse teens, along with their coping strategies for different types of loss; they appear to be composite portraits rather than real individuals. The black-and-white line illustrations and charts throughout will appeal to some, but the boxed affirmations on many pages may feel repetitive to others; the work overall feels a bit like an expanded magazine article. Still, patient readers will likely find guidance—and reassurance.
Potentially useful insights for youngsters encountering loss. (grief journal, glossary, note for caregivers, resources, references, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781525309656
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
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