by Louise Borden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2012
Moving and inspiring; Wallenberg’s is a name to remember for all time, and Borden has done an admirable job of ensuring...
An exceptional individual is brought at last to the up-close-and-personal attention of young readers.
Raoul Wallenberg, born into a distinguished Swedish family in 1912, was destined for greatness. Outgoing, intelligent, artistic, fluent in multiple languages and deeply imbued with strong moral courage, he traveled the world from a young age. A sense of his life’s purpose developed while on business in Budapest in the mid-1940s. There he witnessed firsthand the Nazis’ brutal treatment of Hungary’s Jews. Eventually assigned to the neutral Swedish legation in Budapest, Wallenberg, on his own and with fellow outraged diplomats, labored tirelessly and at great personal risk to provide special documents and to adopt other measures that brought thousands of Hungarian Jews under royal Swedish protection, thus sparing them from deportation and death. Borden describes this hero’s extraordinary life and exploits in free verse, which makes for fast-paced, exciting (though sometimes choppy) reading. Her research has been impeccable, and she has included a wealth of personal and historic detail. The contemporary photos, documents and maps are excellent and place events in lucid context. Readers will be fascinated by the story of this laudable man—and shocked by his ignoble capture and mysterious imprisonment by the Russians at the end of the war. Details about Wallenberg’s final days remain unknown.
Moving and inspiring; Wallenberg’s is a name to remember for all time, and Borden has done an admirable job of ensuring readers will. (epilogue, author's note, bibliography, sources) (Biography. 11 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-618-50755-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
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by Louise Borden ; illustrated by Geneviève Godbout
by Adam Eli ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2020
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by George Takei & Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott ; illustrated by Harmony Becker ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 16, 2019
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
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A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
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