A deeply patriotic look at how immigrants’ application of the American ideals of hard work and perseverance can have lasting...
The Wallaces and Nowicka take a look at the first members of families who immigrated to the United States and the impacts they have had on our lives and country through minibiographies and bright, illustrated portraits.
We all come from somewhere, and unless you are Native American, your people came here as immigrants or refugees. That is what makes America so beautiful. This book takes figures from all races, nationalities, and religions and looks at them as human beings and at the amazing things they have accomplished, from politics to art to science and everything in between. From the music of Yo-Yo Ma to the statecraft of Madeleine Albright or the runway walk of Halima Aden, immigrants have shaped this country. They gave us Google, the Sierra Club, and salsa music. Young readers will be constantly surprised by the impacts these new Americans have had without their ever having realized it. Bright portraits accompany each minibiography along with a box that includes highlights of each person’s life. The breezy format will give readers a taste of nonfiction and will ignite their curiosity to delve deeper into the lives of the people within the pages. Selected books and websites for further exploration as well as a bibliography will help them get started.
A deeply patriotic look at how immigrants’ application of the American ideals of hard work and perseverance can have lasting effects. (authors’ note, illustrator’s note) (Collective biography. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-51524-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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