A wealth of information and hundreds of illustrations, compactly presented but marred by sloppy editing and a cluttered layout. Here we get an excellent history of the orchestra and its music; detailed looks at instrumental families and individual instruments, with clear illustrations of each (a few are misleading: the flute and piccolo are shown gold rather than the more common silver; labels identifying the clarinet and bass clarinet are switched); lists of compositions featuring each instrument (these would form an excellent basic library of orchestral music); and an interesting ``day in the life'' of a member of the London Symphony. Pleasantly, a woman is chosen—but must our first sight of her be in a swimsuit, playing her violin in the surf for a silly p.r. shot? The first and last decorated pages are printed backwards. Some of the many other errors: diagrams of beat patterns show the conductor's hand from the orchestra's point of view but the beat patterns from the conductor's side; diagram #4 doesn't match its description; there are contradictory statements about how violists grip their bows. The marginal decorations not only add to the clutter but, oddly, are snippets from a keyboard score! Excellent in conception, but far less so in execution. Glossary; index. (Nonfiction. 8+)
Pub Date: April 15, 1993
ISBN: 1-56294-202-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1993
Readers will cheer the birth of this comedian.
Eleven-year-old Yumi Chung doesn’t have anyone to sit with at lunch, but she secretly harbors dreams of becoming a comedian. Shy + Asian + Girl = Comedian? Why, yes. Yes, it does.
Winston Preparatory Academy is a shy person’s nightmare. Yumi hides from the beautiful girls and the bullies who call her “Yu-meat” because she smells like her parents’ Korean barbecue restaurant. This summer, her parents are demanding that she go to Korean summer school, or hagwon, to get a near-perfect score on the high school entrance exam—because that is the only way to attend an elite college, like her superachiever sister, a 20-year-old med student. Yumi collects all of her fears and frustrations (and jokes) in her Super-Secret Comedy Notebook. When a case of mistaken identity allows her to attend a comedy camp taught by her YouTube idol, Yumi is too panicked to correct the problem—and then it spirals out of control. With wonderful supporting characters, strong pacing, and entertaining comedy bits, debut author Kim has woven a pop song of immigrant struggle colliding with comedy and Korean barbecue. With their feet in two different cultures, readers listen in on honest conversations, full of halting English and unspoken truths painting a realistic picture of 21st-century first-generation Americans—at least a Korean version. By becoming someone else, Yumi learns more about herself and her family in an authentic and hilarious way.
Readers will cheer the birth of this comedian. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-55497-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Despite the differing perspectives, though, it’s never more than a superficial exploration of the differences between...
Seventh-grade fraternal twins Owen and Russell are as different as night and day, and that spells trouble when both of them make the basketball team.
Owen is the quintessential jock: He plays basketball nearly all the time, and when he isn't playing, he's thinking about it. Russell, more concerned with academics, serves as leader of his school's Masters of the Mind team, a group that competes against other schools to solve tough mental puzzles. He's generally regarded as physically inept. Russell and Owen don't understand each other's worlds, but previously, it hardly seemed to matter. Then the new coach asks Russell to try out for the team because he's tall, and with that height comes a surprisingly satisfying skill in blocking shots. Owen, no longer the sole star athlete in his family, becomes increasingly jealous as his father, who once more or less ignored Russell, begins to focus on both sons. Chapters alternate between the brothers’ first-person accounts, providing readers with a nice look at their diametrically opposed thinking. Russell's chapters are amusing, as he discovers unexpected talents and abilities. Owen comes across as much less attractive; readers may be surprised by the level of his anger and his childish behavior.
Despite the differing perspectives, though, it’s never more than a superficial exploration of the differences between brothers, enlivened by welcome infusions of basketball. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59990-915-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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