A fine introduction to a musical icon.
Silvey examines the life of Pete Seeger, whose folk music and social activism brought both worldwide acclaim and a decade of government persecution.
Born into a privileged family in 1919, Pete attended boarding schools from third grade, isolated from his divorced parents and family. He read voraciously and incubated his interests in the outdoors, journalism, art, and music; a high school teacher introduced him to the banjo. After dropping out of Harvard, Seeger pursued a winding path that included performing children’s concerts and cataloging folk music at the Library of Congress. The straightforward narrative chronicles Pete’s musical arc—from hardscrabble touring with Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers to the phenomenal success of the Weavers, who introduced Americans to folk and world music. Silvey links Seeger’s music with his commitment to social causes, from workers’ rights and civil rights to the antiwar and environmental movements. She skillfully illuminates Seeger’s 10-year ordeal during the tenure of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Surveilled, blacklisted, subpoenaed, arrested, tried, and convicted, the former Communist Party member was vindicated on appeal in 1962. Silvey’s afterword frankly acknowledges Seeger as a personal hero, avowing that her biographer’s neutrality was trumped by her research into Seeger’s unjust treatment by the FBI and HUAC.
A fine introduction to a musical icon. (photographs, quotation source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-547-33012-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
A portrait of a courageous and admirable young voice for change—but no substitute for the book that is its major source.
A cursory introduction to the Pakistani teenager who earned international attention (and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination) after surviving a Taliban gunman’s assassination attempt.
Doeden draws largely from Yousafzai’s 2013 autobiography and a handful of news reports to craft his account. He explains how she, as the eldest daughter of a dedicated founder of girls schools in Pakistan and co-author (at the age of 11) of a personal blog sponsored by the BBC Urdu, became a public face for Muslim girls’ education—and therefore a Taliban target. Silenced only temporarily by a bullet to the head in 2012, she has gone on not only to become an even more vocal advocate for equal (not to say any) education, but to challenge President Barack Obama face to face about the use of military drones in her country. It’s a straightforward account geared to those who aren’t ready to tackle longer, richer resources. Most of the cramped color photos, and all of the unhelpful pull quotes, serve to fill space more than anything else.
A portrait of a courageous and admirable young voice for change—but no substitute for the book that is its major source. (map, endnotes, bibliography) (Biography. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-4907-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
An informationally sound profile but a lackluster narrative.
A fact-filled profile of Edwin and John Wilkes Booth.
The sons of a renowned Shakespearean actor, each enjoyed successful theatrical careers, though Edwin was more famous and admired as an actor. They were divided in their sympathies in the Civil War. John Wilkes spied and smuggled in his zealous support of the Confederacy, fantasizing about a plot to kidnap Lincoln before masterminding the assassination. Langston-George notes that the lives of the Lincolns and the Booths intersected multiple times. Robert Todd Lincoln and John Wilkes pursued the same woman, Lucy Lambert Hale, and Edwin Booth saved the life of President Lincoln’s eldest son when he pulled him off the tracks before an oncoming train. President Lincoln had also seen John Wilkes perform at Ford’s Theater. This story of the Booth brothers is sufficiently factual but lacks depth or nuance. Langston-George frequently uses quotes; sources are identified in the endnotes. What drove John Wilkes to embrace the Confederacy and white supremacy and to plot Lincoln’s assassination is not discussed. The emotional and psychological toll his crime took on Edwin is unexplored. A much more engaging, astute, and insightful profile of the Booth brothers can be found in James Cross Giblin’s Good Brother, Bad Bother (2005).
An informationally sound profile but a lackluster narrative. (afterword, photos, timeline, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5157-7339-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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