An unusual blend of fiction and nonfiction celebrates the individuals whose collective efforts built a pyramid 4,000 years ago. From Senwosret, the king who commanded its construction, through Imhotep, the priest who determined its placement, and Nakht, one of the laborers who actually wrestled the stones into place, to Wah, the water carrier—and Sasobek, the tomb robber who raided it—each man answers the question, “Who built the pyramid?” with brief poetic lines that capture each contribution. Nesumontu, the stonemason, says, “With my sharp eye and steady hand. / I’m a stonemason, like my father before me. / I cut and shaped the casing stones / to fit tight together on the outside of the pyramid. / You couldn’t slide a hair between them! / I built the pyramid.” One full-bleed, double-page spread highlights each contributor’s efforts, the stylized, blocky human figures in terra-cotta, against terra-cotta sand, white stone, and turquoise sky. Eight pages of concise, clear prose accompanied by photographs and diagrams follow these poetic presentations to explain “what happened next” and to explore in greater detail the building, robbing, and excavation of the pyramid. While this extended author’s note indicates that at least four of the characters introduced in the main body of the work were actual historical figures, it does not indicate that the artisans and laborers presented are fictional representations based on historic extrapolation. This information is buried with the copyright information, where most children will not encounter it. This detail aside, Hooper (Antarctic Journal, 2001, etc.) and newcomer Heighway-Bury, have concocted a sophisticated yet easily appreciated offering for budding Egyptophiles. (index) (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7636-0786-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2001
Absolutely wonderful in every way.
A long-forgotten chapter in New York City history is brilliantly illuminated.
In mid-19th-century New York, horses and horse-drawn vehicles were the only means of transportation, and the din created by wheels as they rumbled on the cobblestones was deafening. The congestion at intersections threatened the lives of drivers and pedestrians alike. Many solutions were bandied about, but nothing was ever done. Enter Alfred Ely Beach, an admirer of “newfangled notions.” Working in secret, he created an underground train powered by an enormous fan in a pneumatic tube. He built a tunnel lined with brick and concrete and a sumptuously decorated waiting room for passenger comfort. It brought a curious public rushing to use it and became a great though short-lived success, ending when the corrupt politician Boss Tweed used his influence to kill the whole project. Here is science, history, suspense, secrecy, and skulduggery in action. Corey’s narrative is brisk, chatty, and highly descriptive, vividly presenting all the salient facts and making the events accessible and fascinating to modern readers. The incredibly inventive multimedia illustrations match the text perfectly and add detail, dimension, and pizazz. Located on the inside of the book jacket is a step-by-step guide to the creative process behind these remarkable illustrations.
Absolutely wonderful in every way. (author’s note, bibliography, Web resources) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-375-87071-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Strong rhythms and occasional full or partial rhymes give this account of P.T. Barnum’s 1884 elephant parade across the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge an incantatory tone. Catching a whiff of public concern about the new bridge’s sturdiness, Barnum seizes the moment: “’I will stage an event / that will calm every fear, erase every worry, / about that remarkable bridge. / My display will amuse, inform / and astound some. / Or else my name isn’t Barnum!’” Using a rich palette of glowing golds and browns, Roca imbues the pachyderms with a calm solidity, sending them ambling past equally solid-looking buildings and over a truly monumental bridge—which soars over a striped Big Top tent in the final scene. A stately rendition of the episode, less exuberant, but also less fictionalized, than Phil Bildner’s Twenty-One Elephants (2004), illustrated by LeUyen Pham. (author’s note, resource list) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-44887-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
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