This very dense narrative will work best as a case study of how citizens of one city both precipitated and responded to the...
A snapshot of the civil-rights movement in one city provides insight into the important role of individual communities as change moved through the country.
The struggle of local activists to integrate a small amusement park in Baltimore, Md., serves as the focus of this examination of attempts to change discrimination laws from the 1940s through the 1960s. What makes this rise from the level of local to national interest is the fact that the classic carousel from the now-defunct Gwynn Oak Park sits on the National Mall, where all ages and races climb aboard. Interestingly enough, the first African-American child to ride the carousel did so on the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech during the historic 1963 March on Washington. Nathan, who grew up in Baltimore during this turbulent period, has written a detailed history of the city’s civil-rights activism, placing the incident at the park in historical and social context. Many were involved, both black and white, young and old, and a significant number were connected to what was happening beyond their own community. The many period photographs and excellent source credits enhance the story.
This very dense narrative will work best as a case study of how citizens of one city both precipitated and responded to the whirlwind of social change around them. (Nonfiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58988-071-9
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Paul Dry Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
Moving and brutal, a poetic remembrance of a tragedy too vast to forget.
A harrowing poetic evocation of the infamous concentration camp.
Though this award-winning poet has combed the bright expanse of the poetic spectrum, dabbling in lighter subjects and forms (A Foot in the Mouth, 2009, etc.), here Janeczko returns to a dark historic moment where artists met unspeakable tragedy, not unlike his poetic exploration of the 1944 Hartford, Conn., circus fire that claimed over 150 lives (Worlds Afire, 2007). He tells the grim tale of Terezín, the Czechoslovakian town transformed by the Nazis in 1941 into Ghetto Theresienstadt, a temporary way station for Jewish artists and intellectuals herded from Prague en route to the gas chambers. Estimating 35,000 perished in Terezín, Janeczko creates over 30 poems loosely representative of the experience of the 140,000-some European Jews who passed through the camp prior to its liberation by Russia in 1945. Drawing on research and haunting illustrations from Terezín inmates, Janeczko effectively portrays the graphic horror of such twisted incarceration from the perspective of both captive and captor. For example, imprisoned young Miklos’ admission, “I am fragile / with fear,” starkly contrasts that of SS Captain Bruno Krueger, who seems to savor describing an execution: “I ordered my Jews closer. / Close enough to hear / the twig snap of his neck.”
Moving and brutal, a poetic remembrance of a tragedy too vast to forget. (Poetry. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4727-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
A valuable asset.
The role of African-American women in World War II, both at home and abroad, has not been explored as fully as other aspects of that war, and Mullenbach here addresses this deficit.
The women who tried to participate struggled against multiple obstacles: prejudice against women, segregated institutions and deep-seated discrimination against blacks in the United States. Despite these realities, many African-American women were determined to have a role in the war effort and to use their struggles to push the country toward greater inclusion for all. This exploration makes clear how hard they fought on their own behalf and how resistant U.S. society was to change, even in wartime and even as its leaders sought to galvanize the country around “four essential human freedoms.” Mullenbach effectively weaves this narrative by presenting a wide variety of individual stories of struggle, some victorious, others discouraging, many accompanied by period photographs. Whether she is describing a boycott of segregated Independence Day celebrations at an overseas Red Cross club or the indignities of Jim Crow travel for uniformed women, their dogged determination to fully engage is revealed. One of the many strengths of the book is the range of areas affected, including journalism, manufacturing, troop support, military nursing and many others. Ultimately, their unstinting efforts during World War II helped pave the way for the civil rights movement and major societal change.
A valuable asset. (notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-56976-808-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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