On the eve of the Civil War, two Virginians pledged their allegiances—Robert E. Lee to his state, George H. Thomas to his national government. By the end of the war, it was Thomas who won the battle that sealed Lee’s fate, the Battle of Nashville, the “single most important battle of the Civil War,” according to Bobrick, who generously calls Thomas “the greatest patriot-soldier America had ever produced,” next to George Washington. Drawing on Master of War (2009), his adult biography of the general, he demonstrates a scholar’s authority and writes lively, lucid prose. Abundant archival photographs, paintings, drawings, engravings and magazine illustrations add to the visual appeal of the volume, though more maps would have helped readers follow the flow of the war, a good idea for any study of the Civil War. Most of the volume is a history of the Civil War, though, highlighting the career of Gen. Thomas, and only the final chapter is devoted to the Battle of Nashville itself, a missed opportunity to make this the first full treatment of the battle for young readers. (appendices, source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-84887-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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Caldecott Medalist McCully delves into the lives of extraordinary American women.
Beginning with the subject of her earlier biography Ida M. Tarbell (2014), McCully uses a chronological (by birth year) structure to organize her diverse array of subjects, each of whom is allotted approximately 10 pages. Lovely design enhances the text with a full-color portrait of each woman and small additional illustrations in the author/illustrator’s traditional style, plenty of white space, and spare use of dynamic colors. This survey provides greater depth than most, but even so, some topics go troublingly uncontextualized to the point of reinforcing stereotype: “In slavery, Black women had been punished for trying to improve their appearance. Now that they were free, many cared a great deal about grooming”; “President Roosevelt ordered all Japanese Americans on the West Coast to report to internment camps to keep them from providing aid to the enemy Japanese forces.” Of the 21 surveyed, one Japanese-American woman (Patsy Mink) is highlighted, as are one Latinx woman (Dolores Huerta), one Mohegan woman (Gladys Tantaquidgeon), three black women (Madam C.J. Walker, Ella Baker, and Shirley Chisholm), four out queer white women (Billie Jean King, Barbara Gittings, Jane Addams, and Isadora Duncan; the latter two’s sexualities are not discussed), two Jewish women (Gertrude Berg and Vera Rubin), and three women with known disabilities (Addams, Dorothea Lange, and Temple Grandin).
Despite its not insignificant flaws, this book provides insights into the lives of important women, many of whom have otherwise yet to be featured in nonfiction for young readers. (sources) (Collective biography. 10-14)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-368-01991-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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How does a new, truly revolutionary idea become established scientific fact?
Lendler spins his account of how the awesome age and significance of fossils came to be understood into a grand yarn that begins 168 million years ago. He fast-forwards to 1676 and the first recorded fossil fragment of what was later named Megalosaurus and builds on the premise of “The Blind Men and the Elephant” to trace the ensuing, incremental accretion of stunning evidence over the next two centuries that the Earth is far older than the Bible seems to suggest and was once populated by creatures that no longer exist. It’s a story that abounds in smart, colorful characters including Mary Anning, Richard Owen (a brilliant scholar but “a horrible human being”), and Gideon Mantell, “a dude who really, really loved fossils.” Along the way the author fills readers in on coprolites (“the proof was in the pooing”), highlights the importance of recording discoveries, and explains how the tentative suggestion that certain fossils might have come from members of the “Lizard Tribe” morphed into the settled concept of “dinosaur.” Though he tells a Eurocentric tale, the author incorporates references to sexism and class preconceptions into his picture of scientific progress. Butzer’s illustrations add decorative and, sometimes, comical notes to sheaves of side notes, quotations, charts, maps, and period portraits and images.
An outstanding case study in how science is actually done: funny, nuanced, and perceptive. (bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-15)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2700-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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