Snazzy! Funky! Cool stuff, not boring! Somehow the vocabulary seems a little dated, but the idea is fairly neat: making stencils, collages and other items to personalize backpacks, tabletops, jeans and even your skin (jagua or henna tattoos).
There are 14 projects divided into three sections: Clothes, Accessories and Room, as in your bedroom. While gender is not mentioned, the overall feel is girls-only, but most of these crafts could certainly be enjoyed by decorative-minded young dudes. For each project, there is a list of supplies and caveats (“ask an adult to help if you are not used to ironing”). Instructions are clear and straightforward, although possibly not detailed enough for readers who might never have used fabric paint before. Each project is preceded by a large double-page spread for practice, with an outline image of jeans, backpack, tabletop or other item to test ideas upon. The images used are very simple and meant to encourage any young designer to try a hand at appliquéing a T-shirt or making a polymer-clay doughnut to add to headphones. A glossary of terms is included, although some of the terms and their definitions have a definite British slant. A list of web sources would have been most useful. All in all, nifty stuff for the artistically inclined. (Nonfiction. 9-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7624-4929-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote...
Two republished tales by a Greco-Cherokee author feature both folkloric and modern elements as well as new illustrations.
One of the two has never been offered south of the (Canadian) border. In “Coyote Sings to the Moon,” the doo-wop hymn sung nightly by Old Woman and all the animals except tone-deaf Coyote isn’t enough to keep Moon from hiding out at the bottom of the lake—until she is finally driven forth by Coyote’s awful wailing. She has been trying to return to the lake ever since, but that piercing howl keeps her in the sky. In “Coyote’s New Suit” he is schooled in trickery by Raven, who convinces him to steal the pelts of all the other animals while they’re bathing, sends the bare animals to take clothes from the humans’ clothesline, and then sets the stage for a ruckus by suggesting that Coyote could make space in his overcrowded closet by having a yard sale. No violence ensues, but from then to now humans and animals have not spoken to one another. In Eggenschwiler’s monochrome scenes Coyote and the rest stand on hind legs and (when stripped bare) sport human limbs. Old Woman might be Native American; the only other completely human figure is a pale-skinned girl.
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote tales. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55498-833-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Weaving together architectural, engineering and Native American history, Weitzman tells the fascinating story of how Mohawk Indian ironworkers helped construct the sprawling bridges and towering skyscrapers that dominate our urban landscape. The book begins with a brief but informative history of the Kanien'kéhaka—People of the Flint. Leaders in establishing the League of the Iroquois, a confederation of Indian nations in the New York region, Mohawks had a longstanding reputation for their sense of tight-knit community, attraction to danger and love for physical challenge, qualities that served them well when hired in the late 1800s to do the most arduous work in railroad and bridge construction. With the advent of the skyscraper, Mohawks possessing agility that seemed gravity-defying worked hundreds of feet above the ground. They were not immune to tragedy, and the author discusses in detail the collapse of the Québec Bridge that killed 31 Mohawk workers. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs that capture the daring spirit of these heroic workers, the concise, captivating account offers great insight into the little-known but considerable role Native Americans played in our architectural and engineering achievements. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59643-162-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
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