The lineaments of Saint Patrick's life comprise the barest of bones in this work from Tompert (How Rabbit Lost His Tail, 1997, etc.), which is less biography than leap in the dark. The story opens with Patrick's birth in southwest Britain during the fourth century. He was a son of the manse, a lousy student, and lax as could be regarding his religion. When Irish pirates sold him into slavery, Patrick saw the light (or, rather, heard a voice that urged him to escape and return home). Miracles start raining, prayers are routinely answered, as Patrick makes his way back to Britain. Once there he has a dream that counsels he return to Ireland to spread the faith. As an author's note makes clear, Tompert attempts to stick to the few known facts of Patrick's life, but the insertion of his words into the narrative turns the story, including the more sensational aspects, into an eyewitness account instead of something mythical or hallowed. As the story pales, Garland's curious, mixed-media illustrations, with a variety of digitalized patterns, become that much more compelling. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-56397-659-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A captivating tale guaranteed to keep youngsters wide awake in wonder.
From childhood, an astronaut dreamed of adventurous exploration.
Famed NASA astronaut Kelly played imaginative games with his twin brother, Mark (also an astronaut), from the time they were kids, presaging both men’s future space careers by wearing cardboard-box helmets. Their mother supported their high-flying dreams at bedtime. Ever entranced by the sky, the brothers imagined aboveground adventures in the backyard treehouse and on a family cruise, where they fantasized about being weightless as the boat was tossed by the waves. In adulthood, Kelly undertook hardier journeys, and his dreams continued to spark his longings for space navigation: He steered Navy vessels and piloted jets; camped out in icy climates and explored the seas; and climbed Mount Everest. Kelly attained his astronaut goal by joining the crew of the space shuttle Discovery, then earned renown for his yearlong stint on the International Space Station. Though Kelly acknowledges home is best, he encourages readers to dream about having adventures; a charming concluding illustration features a brown-skinned girl dreaming of myriad possibilities. The engaging, gently poetic text describes the author’s ambitious, lifelong skyward trajectory and his stops along the way to space, helping youngsters understand what goes into astronaut training. Colorful, appealing illustrations capture Kelly’s fascinating odyssey, beginning in childhood, and the starry reaches of space. Scott and Mark Kelly present White; some background characters are people of color. The backmatter includes two pages of color photos. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 49.9% of actual size.)
A captivating tale guaranteed to keep youngsters wide awake in wonder. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6428-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In bouncy rhyme, Spinelli invites younger readers to contemplate the many shapes and uses of headgear throughout history, drawing on specific examples from Abe Lincoln to Carmen Miranda: “John Chapman had a hat. / They say he wore a cooking pot. / Some folks believe that, some do not. / If true—he was a sight indeed— / a pot-topped sower of apple seed. / Do YOU have a hat?” Valério makes his US debut with a set of smiling, fancifully stylized portraits, generally flanked by birds, bugs, or other small companions wearing similar hats. With a line or two of background for each historical figure supplied on the endpapers, this nicely expands the “hats as occupational markers” theme in Ann Morris’s Hats, Hats, Hats (1989), and others. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-86253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2004
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