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
An insightful if imperfect story of environmental success.
The true story of a young boy who built a forest from the ground up in northeastern India.
Inspired by the documentary Forest Man, debut author Gholz pens the story of Jadav Payeng. The story begins with the erosive impact of seasonal floodwaters on his island home, which propels Jadav to take action. A group of elders give him 20 bamboo seedlings to plant. He plants them and waters them every day, devising various methods of irrigation, and over time, his hard work pays off and a forest grows. Animals come back, but with them come threats. However, Jadav inventively copes and continues to protect the forest. While the relative absence of the community throughout Jadav’s endeavors is somewhat startling, the story provides young children with a real-life example of the connections between man and nature. Gholz refers to Jadav throughout the book only as “the boy” or “the man,” which has a distancing effect. The depictions of Jadav himself as a child are similarly generic, whereas those of him as an adult are reasonably accurate to photographs. Moreover, facts indicate that Jadav was 16 when he started planting the trees, but the book shows him as a much younger child. The illustrations overall are detailed and engaging, however, with beautiful imagery of the islands and the forest. Backmatter provides further information, a glossary, and tips on planting a forest.
An insightful if imperfect story of environmental success. (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-53411-024-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s not the most dramatic version, but it’s a visually effective and serviceable addition to the rapidly growing shelf of...
A 50th-anniversary commemoration of the epochal Apollo 11 mission.
Modeling her account on “The House That Jack Built” (an unspoken, appropriate nod to President John F. Kennedy’s foundational role in the enterprise), Greene takes Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins from liftoff to post-splashdown ticker-tape parade. Side notes on some spreads and two pages of further facts with photographs at the end, all in smaller type, fill in select details about the mission and its historical context. The rhymed lines are fully cumulated only once, so there is some repetition but never enough to grow monotonous: “This is the Moon, a mysterious place, / a desolate land in the darkness of space, / far from Earth with oceans blue.” Also, the presentation of the text in just three or fewer lines per spread stretches out the narrative and gives Brundage latitude for both formal and informal group portraits of Apollo 11’s all-white crew, multiple glimpses of our planet and the moon at various heights, and, near the end, atmospheric (so to speak) views of the abandoned lander and boot prints in the lunar dust.
It’s not the most dramatic version, but it’s a visually effective and serviceable addition to the rapidly growing shelf of tributes to our space program’s high-water mark. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58536-412-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
