A spare telling of a big life.
A small, illustrated biography of a giant woman.
Anna Swan was born in Nova Scotia in 1846, and an author’s note explains she likely had “a rare medical condition called pituitary gigantism” that caused her to grow to nearly 8 feet. The story is written in the first person, a dubious choice for biography, but the point of view infuses the narrative with a sense of intimacy. From her birth, Anna is a spectacle in her rural community, where her family is credited with accepting and protecting her. “All the more to love,” her parents are quoted as saying of her, though there’s no direct citation for this dialogue, nor for any other quotations in the book, which could exacerbate concerns about the book’s nonfiction credibility. The strong foundation Anna receives from them helps her confidently set out into the world with a man she calls Mr. Barnum, who includes her in his Gallery of Wonders with other people with unusual physiques. An unfortunate, insensitive simile likens two men with gigantism to “totem poles,” and a later introduction of Anna’s husband, Martin Van Buren Bates, calls him the “Kentucky Mountain Giant” but fails to mention he was a Confederate soldier. Despite these missteps, there’s much to admire in this tribute to Swan, not the least of which are detailed mixed-media illustrations; done with a delicate folk-art sensibility, they depict Anna and her world as an all-white one.
A spare telling of a big life. (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77138-376-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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