A sensitive, uplifting tribute.
A child’s-eye view of Poland’s pioneering educator and child advocate, based on both research and memories shared by a student who knew him.
Looking very small and vulnerable in Rajunov’s neutral-toned panels, 7-year-old Izaak joins other young residents of Warsaw’s Dom Sierot (“Home of Orphans”). There, following a meeting with kindly Dr. Korczak—affectionately known to all as “Pan Doctor”—he experiences a life-changing regimen ranging from a newly healthful diet (“At lunch we had meat! Again!”) with special meals for the Sabbath on Friday night to stimulating rounds of play, chores, and learning that include even a formal court and a newspaper that are both run by children. Seven years later, in 1931, Izaak boards a ship for the long voyage to a new life in Canada. He loses touch with Pan Doctor after the Nazi invasion…and learns only after the war that he and 192 children in his keeping had been dispatched to a death camp. But in her afterword, Lewis writes that “Janusz Korczak would want to be remembered for the way he lived, not for the way he died,” and so closes her composite narrator’s vivid account with references to his profound respect for children and their ideas, while gently encouraging readers to “try not to think of what should be but what can be.”
A sensitive, uplifting tribute. (glossary, bibliography) (Graphic biography. 7-10)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9781525310249
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
An emotional entry point to a larger, necessary discussion on this complex and difficult subject.
The paths of four migrant children from different Central American countries cross as they enter Mexico, and together they continue their journey to the United States.
Though their reasons for undertaking the perilous journey are different, their hopes are not: They all hope for asylum in the U.S. Ten-year-old Alessandra, from Guatemala, hopes to reunite with her mother, who left four years ago. Thirteen-year-old Laura and her 7-year-old brother, Nando, from El Salvador, are going to live with relatives in the U.S. And 14-year-old Rodrigo, from Honduras, will try to join his parents in Nebraska rather than join a local gang. Along the way they encounter danger, hunger, kindness from strangers, and, most importantly, the strength of friendship with one another. Through the four children, the book provides but the barest glimpse into the reasons, hopes, and dreams of the thousands of unaccompanied minors that arrive at the U.S.–Mexico border every year. Artist Guevara has added Central American folk art–influenced details to her illustrations, giving depth to the artwork. These embellishments appear as line drawings superimposed on the watercolor scenes. The backmatter explains the reasons for the book, helping to place it within the larger context of ongoing projects at Baylor University related to the migration crisis in Central America.
An emotional entry point to a larger, necessary discussion on this complex and difficult subject. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64442-008-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Six Foot Press
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering.
An honestly told biography of an important politician whose name every American should know.
Published while the United States has its first African-American president, this story of John Roy Lynch, the first African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, lays bare the long and arduous path black Americans have walked to obtain equality. The title’s first three words—“The Amazing Age”—emphasize how many more freedoms African-Americans had during Reconstruction than for decades afterward. Barton and Tate do not shy away from honest depictions of slavery, floggings, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, or the various means of intimidation that whites employed to prevent blacks from voting and living lives equal to those of whites. Like President Barack Obama, Lynch was of biracial descent; born to an enslaved mother and an Irish father, he did not know hard labor until his slave mistress asked him a question that he answered honestly. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lynch had a long and varied career that points to his resilience and perseverance. Tate’s bright watercolor illustrations often belie the harshness of what takes place within them; though this sometimes creates a visual conflict, it may also make the book more palatable for young readers unaware of the violence African-Americans have suffered than fully graphic images would. A historical note, timeline, author’s and illustrator’s notes, bibliography and map are appended.
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering. (Picture book biography. 7-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5379-0
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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