Readers are introduced to 10 notable expeditions through history and challenged to identify anachronisms in as many tableaux.
From Marco Polo’s 13th-century trek to China to Apollo 11, each journey is presented in two double-page spreads. The first is an expansive cartoon scene that imagines the principal players and is glossed by a short paragraph. Planted in each of these are 20 anachronisms. Two children, one white and one black, act as guides and drop the occasional hint: “What’s that Viking doing here?” says one in a scene introducing Zheng He’s 15th-century treasure fleet. The subsequent spread offers a guide to the goofs, explaining what’s out of place and briefly discussing what might have been there instead. A steel-drum band welcomes Columbus to Hispaniola, for instance, but readers are told that actual 15th-century “Taino would have used simple drums fashioned from wood and leather.” Some planted errors are obvious, such as Capt. Cook’s “I [heart] NY” T-shirt, but other elements may not jump out at readers, such as the red and white club held by a Maori chief—readers must peruse the key to discover it’s an aluminum baseball bat and not an authentic carved and painted artifact. The repeated use of a Plains Indian in feathered headdress reinforces stereotypes and could well fuel confusion, as when he appears in the Missouri River encounter between the Lewis and Clark expedition and unidentified Native Americans.
Superficial at best. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78603-130-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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A custom-built, bulletproof limo links two historical figures who were pre-eminent in more or less different spheres.
Garland admits that a claim that FDR was driven to Congress to deliver his “Day of Infamy” speech in a car that once belonged to Capone rests on shaky evidence. He nonetheless uses the anecdote as a launchpad for twin portraits of contemporaries who occupy unique niches in this country’s history but had little in common. Both were smart, ambitious New Yorkers and were young when their fathers died, but they definitely “headed in opposite directions.” As he fills his biographical sketches with standard-issue facts and has disappointingly little to say about the car itself (which was commissioned by Capone in 1928 and still survives), this outing seems largely intended to be a vehicle for the dark, heavy illustrations. These are done in muted hues with densely scratched surfaces and angled so that the two men, the period backgrounds against which they are posed, and the car have monumental looks. It’s a reach to bill this, as the author does, a “story about America,” but it does at least offer a study in contrasts featuring two of America’s most renowned citizens. Most of the human figures are white in the art, but some group scenes include a few with darker skin.
The car gets shortchanged, but comparing the divergent career paths of its (putative) two riders may give readers food for thought. (timeline, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 10-12)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-88448-620-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Before the Inuit came to the Arctic, there were the Tuniit.
The Qitsualik-Tinsleys offer readers an introduction to this prehistoric people, twining scientific findings with Inuit legend and even Inuktitut grammar to provide a window on the early Arctic. Without going into anthropological specifics, the husband-and-wife team, who include Inuit, Cree, and Mohawk in their combined heritage, introduce the notion that the Tuniit may not have been human before going on to say that they lived in settlements, originated the intricate stone cairns known as inuksuit, and were short, strong, and shy. They introduce snippets of traditional lore that claim supernatural powers for the Tuniit and that build a strong case for the eventual assimilation of the Tuniit by the encroaching Inuit. Anthropological discoveries validate the existence of the Tuniit and their disappearance as a distinct culture and genotype. Bigham contributes moody oil paintings and ink drawings; shifts in typeface seem to indicate corresponding shifts in mode that highlight the persistence of the Tuniit in Inuit legend, though this is not consistent. The authors clearly wrestle with the understanding that Inuit ancestors displaced an earlier indigenous people, introducing real poignancy to their exhortation that their readers respect the Tuniit by remembering them: "We remember a fate that no culture should have to endure."
A valuable introduction to a vanished North American people, told with nuance, engagement, and rue. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-927095-76-8
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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