The whole is written in a gender-neutral tone, without condescension but with a certain number of assumptions about access...
The third in a series of lively approaches to creative endeavors (Learn to Speak Dance, by Ann-Marie Williams and illustrated by Jeff Kulak, 2011, etc.), this offers genuine advice amid a sea of exclamation points.
DeCarufel has been a fashion intern and an editor, and she co-founded a Web fashion magazine, Hardly. The Canadian author’s enthusiasm is unflagging, and she takes preteen readers with her on the “clothes + art = fashion” formula. She starts with finding one’s own style and continues with learning to see: using visual curiosity to examine design, pattern, color and so on to find what inspires. Window shopping, building a wardrobe, preparing a sketchbook and learning to sew are all part of the plan. She gives advice about runway shows, models, fashion shoots, stylists and so on. She frames these events as activities that young folk could actually perform, and she makes it all sound possible. The layout is full of boxes, sketches and quotes pulled from famous fashion folk: Some may find the type on dark backgrounds to be hard to read, but visually it is very effective. The last chapter lists “essentials” for designers, photographers, stylists, magazines and interns. These are very simple but really cover the basics, and her attitude that fashion and style are worthy and enjoyable pursuits is spot-on.
The whole is written in a gender-neutral tone, without condescension but with a certain number of assumptions about access to technology and tools like cameras and sewing machines. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-926973-37-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Weaving together architectural, engineering and Native American history, Weitzman tells the fascinating story of how Mohawk Indian ironworkers helped construct the sprawling bridges and towering skyscrapers that dominate our urban landscape. The book begins with a brief but informative history of the Kanien'kéhaka—People of the Flint. Leaders in establishing the League of the Iroquois, a confederation of Indian nations in the New York region, Mohawks had a longstanding reputation for their sense of tight-knit community, attraction to danger and love for physical challenge, qualities that served them well when hired in the late 1800s to do the most arduous work in railroad and bridge construction. With the advent of the skyscraper, Mohawks possessing agility that seemed gravity-defying worked hundreds of feet above the ground. They were not immune to tragedy, and the author discusses in detail the collapse of the Québec Bridge that killed 31 Mohawk workers. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs that capture the daring spirit of these heroic workers, the concise, captivating account offers great insight into the little-known but considerable role Native Americans played in our architectural and engineering achievements. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59643-162-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
In a large, handsome format, Tarnowska offers six tales plus an abbreviated version of the frame story, retold in formal but contemporary language and sandwiched between a note on the Nights’ place in her childhood in Lebanon and a page of glossary and source notes. Rather than preserve the traditional embedded structure and cliffhanger cutoffs, she keeps each story discrete and tones down the sex and violence. This structure begs the question of why Shahriyar lets Shahrazade [sic] live if she tells each evening’s tale complete, but it serves to simplify the reading for those who want just one tale at a time. Only the opener, “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,” is likely to be familiar to young readers; in others a prince learns to control a flying “Ebony Horse” by “twiddling” its ears, contending djinn argue whether “Prince Kamar el Zaman [or] Princess Boudour” is the more beautiful (the prince wins) and in a Cinderella tale a “Diamond Anklet” subs for the glass slipper. Hénaff’s stylized scenes of domed cityscapes and turbaned figures add properly whimsical visual notes to this short but animated gathering. (Folktales. 10-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84686-122-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
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