A solid introduction to a brilliant writer.
This brief biography of the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet features a handful of Brooks’ own poems interspersed with original verse about the woman and her writing.
The warm pink undertones of Brooks’ glowing brown face on the book’s cover fade to a muted brown and beige palette inside the book’s pages. Simple scenes and images use thick blurred lines and blocks of color as a background to the text as it recounts her life chronologically, from age 8 in 1925 to her winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. The poems about Brooks are headed by Roman numerals, I through IX. At first, she is “unsure,” watching and listening to the sounds and behaviors of the people in her neighborhood, writing poems in her journal and burying those that disappoint her. When her teacher accuses her of plagiarism, her mother has her write a poem in front of the teacher to prove her brilliance (the poem is included). Her parents believe in her and leave her “free to sit and think.” Her process is lovingly described: “She learns to labor for the love of words” through draft after draft. She befriends other poets and studies older poets. “She found her light. // And— / A furious flower / GREW!” The combination of biography and Brooks’ own poems makes for a strong, useful, and beautiful text; readers might wish, however, that Duncan’s words and Brooks’ were set in markedly different typefaces to better distinguish them.
A solid introduction to a brilliant writer. (author’s note, timeline, suggested reading, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3088-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
An engaging tour of the inspirations behind a host of marvelous inventions.
MacLeod and Wishinsky investigate the genesis of 33 ingenious inventions.
Some of the inventions here came about as the result of an accident—the Popsicle, for example, or the microwave oven—but most were the result of seeing the possibilities once presented with a situation. That takes knowledge, as this book emphasizes, along with paying attention, making connections, taking your time, persistence, avoiding assumptions, and being open to failure. Each invention, from friction matches to folding beds, penicillin, high-dose radiation, the electronic feeding device, Teflon, corn flakes, and windshield wipers—for starters—is accompanied by photos and images of the inventor and their invention. A good half of those celebrated in these pages are women, and there is a decent sampling of different races and nationalities. Explaining the mechanics of the inventions is a variable affair. Some are obvious, like the aforementioned Popsicle, while others, such as fiber optics, don’t lend themselves to simple explanations. But no matter how abstruse the invention is, Macleod and Wishinsky make it clear why the invention was important through its everyday application. Pull quotes from such lights as Leonardo da Vinci, George Washington Carver, and Larry Page add interest, as do extra factlets introduced in sidebars; Playford’s illustrations add zip.
An engaging tour of the inspirations behind a host of marvelous inventions. (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1676-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Readers are treated to Muir’s life journey—but, artwise, nothing resembles the source of his inspiration.
In graphic-novel style, this supposed autobiography reveals details of John Muir’s life.
The table of contents lists nine chapters, intriguingly titled. The light tone continues on the next two pages, showing four loose-limbed, comical figures under the heading “Key Characters.” Three of these characters are John: “as a child…a young man…an old man”; the fourth, a dog, bears the label “Stickeen.” (More characters do follow.) As John tells his story, the text cleverly intersperses brief quotations from his own writings with phrases that he and the people in his life might reasonably have said. During early childhood in Dunbar, Scotland, the wee lad already relishes the natural world and hates studying indoors. The format accentuates the reactions of John’s schoolmaster and his father, as they “THWOP” and “THWACK” John’s curly head. When he moves to the United States, Muir’s passion for nature accelerates, eventually leading to a “thousand-mile walk” from Indiana to Florida. He assumes the roles of inventor, husband, father, farmer, explorer—and always conservationist, eventually establishing the Sierra Club and lobbying for the first national parks. The art works well for some scenes, such as a harrowing, near-death experience in Alaska. However, it is a major disappointment that Muir’s descriptions of overwhelming natural beauty are illustrated with the same comical style and that readers must peruse closing notes to learn which words are Muir’s and which are Bertagna’s.
Readers are treated to Muir’s life journey—but, artwise, nothing resembles the source of his inspiration. (chronology, glossary, note on parks) (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-930238-94-7
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Yosemite Conservancy
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
