A thoughtful, well-researched homage to an almost forgotten hero.
Words alone could not provoke change in the terrible plight of tenement dwellers in late-19th-century New York City.
In 1870, Danish-born Jacob Riis immigrated to the United States, where, after years of struggle, he eventually became a newspaperman. In his own life and in his work, he witnessed the horrendous living conditions of New York City’s poorest immigrants. It became the impetus for his lifelong crusade. One of the worst areas was Mulberry Bend, with filthy, overcrowded, airless tenements. He wrote many articles describing what he saw, but nothing changed. Then he took photographs and gave lectures accompanied by life-size reproductions of those photos to any group that would listen. His 1890 book, How the Other Half Lives, inspired others, including Theodore Roosevelt, to finally begin to address the issues. Among other improvements, the worst slums of Mulberry Bend were cleared to create a park, giving people a place to breathe and play. But where did the inhabitants go? O’Neill clearly admires Riis and presents his biography in clear, direct language that conveys the facts of his life along with the essence of his nature. Kelley’s ink-and-pastel illustrations in muted tones capture the gray dreariness of the scenes as well as dark shadows of interpretations of the photos. Backmatter includes detailed information of every aspect of Riis’ life and work, including several of Riis’ photos and quotes.
A thoughtful, well-researched homage to an almost forgotten hero. (author’s note, glossary, timeline, sources) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)Pub Date: March 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62979-866-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extraordinary achievement and a moving, affecting evocation of two lives lived together.
Readers meet two Swiss sculptors, brothers born a year apart, whose intertwined artistic lives spanned most of the 20th century and two world wars.
Multiaward-winning team Greenberg and Jordan are best known for their astonishing ability to decode and explore sophisticated artists and movements: abstraction (Action Jackson, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker, 2002), modern dance (Ballet for Martha, illustrated by Brian Floca, 2010), and art photography (Meet Cindy Sherman, 2017). Here they turn to the Giacometti brothers, born at the turn of the 20th century. The older, Alberto, was pronounced a “genius” by his family. Art academy– and studio-trained, driven to make sculpture like his hero, Rodin, he eventually found his way to Paris. The simple dual biography explains how the family dynamic required that his sometimes-unfocused younger brother, Diego, join him there. Spare text describes how Diego became a skilled, sensitive metal worker, beginning as Alberto’s invaluable studio assistant and becoming Alberto’s true, artistic amanuensis. Hooper’s low-key, child-friendly details keep readers turning the pages. Ingenious scratchy, angular lines echo the wire models Diego fashioned to support Alberto’s striking and evocative original clay figures (most were later cast in bronze). She overlays the lines on broad, patchworked areas of serigraphlike spreads, offering effective, emotional undertones to the action of the text and the tenor of the times. Backmatter includes a focus on Alberto’s iconic, tensile, postwar masterpiece, Walking Man.
An extraordinary achievement and a moving, affecting evocation of two lives lived together. (illustrated timeline, notes, photographs, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)Pub Date: April 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4170-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
For park lovers everywhere.
New Yorkers are still enjoying their very special place to walk, play ball, sail model boats, attend concerts, and so much more.
In 1858, two visionary men entered a contest to design and build what remains today as a “vibrant jewel at the heart of New York City.” That is, of course, Central Park, and it was the visionary work and attention to detail by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted that created what is still an oasis of green. Opening with a double-page spread depicting the 1857 eviction of the African-American residents of Seneca Village, Yazdani then traces the white designers’ collaboration, plans, process, and success through an engaging text and a delightful series of digitized pencil-and-watercolor illustrations. The land was a “swampland,” and with a great deal of digging and planting it was transformed into a delightful place to ice skate in the winter or boat in the summer. Backmatter provides additional information about the two men, and in a Q-and-A, the author fills in further facts about the elm trees, the arches, and the African-American community forced from its home. Sharp-eyed readers are invited to find and count gray squirrels. Also of note is a double-page spread depicting the many bridges and arches that have been constructed. The parkgoers, both in the 19th century and today, are a diverse group.
For park lovers everywhere. (author’s note, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9695-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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