Will be welcomed by caregivers looking for heroines to inspire young children.
An earnest board-book introduction to a strong female role model for young feminists.
Actually, this book is more for caregivers eager to raise a feminist than it is for children. Membrino addresses her readers familiarly, equally casually referring to her subject as simply “Michelle” following the first-page introduction. She focuses on the former first lady’s key messages: working hard, being healthy, having fun, getting an education. In the patterned presentation, a sentence from Membrino about how Obama lives her values is followed by a quote. Burke’s vivid, playful illustrations use bold colors against patterned backgrounds. Obama is almost always dressed in bright pink. The illustrations get her stance and posture right; her eyes are exaggerated, looking directly at the reader. Her famous arms are proudly flexed on the page about “BEING HEALTHY.” The type uses contrasting colors and all-caps for emphasis. A companion book, I Look Up to…Ruth Bader Ginsburg, follows the same format. Again, Burke nails Ginsburg’s posture; her eyes look exactly like Obama’s, but she gazes from square-framed glasses. Ginsburg also wears her iconic decorative collar in every illustration, even when she is shown exercising.
Will be welcomed by caregivers looking for heroines to inspire young children. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57954-0
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
This book falls short of its promise.
A compendium of profiles of people of color who have changed the world.
Each page of this colorful board book contains between four and nine profiles of people of color whose activism and leadership have changed the world. The descriptive text for each leader chosen is extremely short—only one sentence long—quickly outlining each person’s background, heritage, accomplishments, and little else. Each profile is accompanied by a bobbleheadlike cartoon illustration of the leader in question, rendered with bold colors and nearly identical in their simplified facial features. The heroes chosen are diverse in terms of their race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and areas of expertise, including African American athlete and artist Ernie Barnes, Dominican fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, Kwakwaka’wakw artist Ellen Ka’kasolas Neel, and president of Ecuador Lenín Moreno, who uses a wheelchair. Although the range is impressive, it is also confusing: A few sentences of additional text sporadically appear, serving little purpose and breaking the flow, nor does there seem to be any unifying threads to the groupings. Additionally, some of the choices of heroes are questionable: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, for example, was often criticized for engaging in corruption and doing little to further the cause of women’s rights, while “spiritual leader” Sudehanshu Biswas is hardly known even in his home country of India.
This book falls short of its promise. (Board book. 3-4)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-32642-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
This Little is both too little and too early to do justice to these important lives.
A board-book introduction to 10 workers for social justice.
The first double-page spread shows the five men and five women to be featured. Subsequent spreads include a close-up portrait and four-line verse opposite an illustration meant to demonstrate each inspirational figure’s work. A two- or three-line caption reduces the complex work of people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to vague platitudes. “Mahatma Gandhi led the people of India to freedom from being ruled by Great Britain” is woefully inadequate. Even so, the concept is still far beyond the board-book audience’s understanding. How to communicate to toddlers the work of Henry Bergh, ASPCA founder, or Dr. Jim Yong Kim, 12th chair of the World Bank? (Answer: He “works to help poor countries succeed.”) Dolores Huerta was chosen to represent the United Farm Workers, but including Cesar Chavez in her caption diminishes her role. Brief bios and portraits of 17 additional activists and a blank space labeled “You!” under the headline “Kindness, sharing, speaking out, fair play— / what could you do to help others someday?” complete the book. The bobblehead art, similar to other books in the This Little series, sometimes borders on offensive caricature.
This Little is both too little and too early to do justice to these important lives. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4291-7
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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