With sensitive text and powerful illustrations, Say brings this remarkable, inspiring life to poignant reality.
An imagined biography in words and pictures of the self-taught white artist James Castle.
James Castle was born in 1899 on a farm in rural Idaho, “deaf, mute, autistic, and probably dyslexic.” Using interviews, written biographical material, and Castle’s own drawings as guides, Say, writing in the voice of Robert “Bob” Beach, Castle’s nephew, offers a sensitive portrait of a person compelled to draw despite abuse and lack of drawing materials. Considered “ineducable” by the principal of the Idaho School for the Deaf James attended from ages 10 to 15 (he also told James’ father not to let him draw), James used burnt matchsticks, soot mixed with his own saliva, and scrap paper to draw in secret. When Beach showed some of Castle’s drawings to his art professor, the professor, impressed, arranged an exhibition. More exhibitions followed, and Castle moved into a used trailer—by far the nicest studio he ever had. It’s a small but deep triumph that this misunderstood, determined artist became discovered by the art world during his lifetime. “I think he was happy,” narrator Bob says of this period, and it’s a wistful note that Say’s illustrations—some in Castle’s own style, some darkly black and white, and some in color—give heartfelt resonance to.
With sensitive text and powerful illustrations, Say brings this remarkable, inspiring life to poignant reality. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 8-15)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-92761-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Who could have imagined that something as seemingly ordinary as a plant could incite such ardor and devotion? (timeline,...
Greed! Obsession! A passion for nature and travel! All these and more have driven intrepid explorers to search for exotic plants around the globe for centuries.
Most of these hunters have been altruistic professionals seeking valuable plants to advance the cause of science and medicine or to improve their nations’ economy with potential commercial crops. In their pursuit many experienced serious illness and injury, extremes of harsh weather and terrain in remote locales, not to mention encounters with dangerous animals, insects and fellow humans. Yet the thrill of the chase, the love of adventure and the outdoors and the tantalizing belief that the objects of their desire indeed lay at the end of their arduous journeys spurred these men and women on, despite the challenges. Some didn’t survive the trip home. Today searches continue so that scientists may catalog Earth’s biodiversity and develop massive seed stockpiles against any future catastrophic destruction of plant life. The slim, engaging narrative paints vivid portraits of these botanic adventurers. It is smoothly written, smartly paced and filled with exciting tales of risk taking and derring-do. Handsome visuals include contemporary maps, photographs, sketches, paintings and excellent botanic illustrations.
Who could have imagined that something as seemingly ordinary as a plant could incite such ardor and devotion? (timeline, author’s note, notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 9-13)Pub Date: April 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-374-30908-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
A marvel of history writing that makes complicated history clear and interesting.
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass met only three times, but their friendship changed a nation.
Lincoln was white and president of the United States; Douglass was black and a former slave. Yet they were kindred spirits: Both had risen from poverty to prominence, both were self-educated men and both had a book in common: Caleb Bingham’s The Columbian Orator. In fact, 12-year-old Douglass was secretly reading the book of speeches and dialogues in Baltimore at the same time Lincoln was reading it in Illinois, and the appendix here presents an excerpt, “Dialogue between a Master and Slave.” When they first met, in 1863, the nation was at war. Lincoln struggled to keep the nation together, while Douglass welcomed war as a first step toward ending slavery; Douglass was ever the voice of moral conscience, nudging Lincoln to do the right thing on behalf of the enslaved. In this slim volume, Freedman makes a narrative challenge look effortless. He tells the stories of two prominent Americans, traces the debate over slavery from the Missouri Compromise to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott decision and explains how these events created a momentum that pushed the nation toward war. He does all of this in a lucid and fascinating narrative that never sacrifices depth and intellectual rigor.
A marvel of history writing that makes complicated history clear and interesting. (selected bibliography, notes, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 9-14)Pub Date: June 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-38562-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
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