Each of the five people profiled in this fascinating collection has won a National Heritage Fellowship, but young readers probably won’t care about that. What they will be mesmerized by is the work they do. Qi Shu Fang performs Beijing Opera in New York City, and in both photos and text readers can see the layers of makeup, the heavy costumes and a glimpse into an almost unknown art form. Ralph Stanley has built boats by hand in Maine for decades; Eva Castellanoz, now of Oregon, has made a career out of creating the beautiful wax and paper flowers and flower crowns for Mexican weddings, baptisms and burials. Dorothy Trumphold, of a small Lutheran sect in Iowa, weaves stunningly patterned rag rugs, and “Tootie” Montana, who, alas, died last year, partnered with his wife to make the extraordinary feathered and beaded costumes of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Govenar tells their stories simply, using mostly their own words, making a great tapestry of images with the multitude of color pictures. A fine nonfiction collection, marred only by its rather odd title. (bibliography) (Nonfiction/collective biography. 9-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-2047-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
Most young readers know so little about this nearly moribund Utopian community that any new book on the subject should be welcome—but not this one. The first half tells the true stories of two children who lived in Shaker communities. Of curiosity to contemporary readers is that the children don't seem very upset at being separated from their families. They adapt to Shaker ways, in an account that is little more than a superficial overview of a complex and often demanding way of life. Many terms are introduced and never really explained (e.g., needle emeries), neither in context nor in the brief glossary. The second half of the book—devoted to activities—is really problematic. Even experienced adult cooks are leery of making jam/jelly (the author uses the terms interchangeably), an activity that is downright dangerous for children. Many of the recipes are beyond the abilities of preteens, and the other activities can be quite ambitious, e.g., planting a ten-foot-square garden, often without clear instructions. Included is a bibliography of adult books; it fails to include the half-dozen titles—in print and still being read- -available for young readers, any of which provide far more solid information than this title does. (b&w photos and illustrations, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 1-55652-250-9
Page Count: 122
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
A serviceable biography in the Traiblazers series about the brief and incandescent life of Bessie Coleman (18921926), the first black woman to earn a pilot's license. Hart (Flying Free, 1992, not reviewed, etc.) works with limited contemporary sources to reconstruct the astonishing career of Coleman. She grew up in Waxahachie, Texas, where she somehow conceived of and maintained a passion for flight. In Chicago, she found a patron who financed a trip to France in 1921; there she earned her pilot's license. Returning to the US, Coleman scrambled for funds to continue training and to buy her own plane, both hindered and heartened by the predictable public response to a black female flyer. She died in a crash in an old Jenny—the only plane she could afford. Hart is sentimental and didactic in depicting the complexities of Coleman's life and the depth of her obsession with flying. Hers is a fabulous story, however, and ought to be told and retold. (notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 10- 13)
Pub Date: July 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-87614-949-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1996
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