This adaptation will diminish Red Cloud’s legacy, perpetuate negative stereotypes, and provide incorrect information to...
In 1868, Red Cloud, a respected Oglala chief, led an intertribal war against the U.S. Army and won.
Waters’ adaptation reiterates the subtitle’s claim that it's an untold story (“his story has long been forgotten by conventional American history”), though this is far from the first book about him, and contemporary tribal nations honor his legacy. Unfortunately, this book’s outsider perspective is all too evident. In the text, Lakota men and women are labeled as “braves” and “maidens” and the Lakota Sun Dance ceremony as “fearsome,” when it was an annual sacred ceremony to honor the Great Spirit. Often the tone is condescending. When the Mormon Trail opened in 1847, readers are told “the Lakota, in particular the Oglalas, were initially helpless in the face of this onslaught,” eliding the fact that the Oglalas were well-trained warriors. Further, Red Cloud is often portrayed as brutish: “Sometimes it just felt good and natural to go out and steal horses. If he took some scalps in the process, so much the better.” Finally, there is a glaring chronological error: in 1868, when Gen. Philip Sheridan closed Fort Laramie, the Lakota were told “if they wished to trade, they were free to do business at Fort Randall on the Missouri River in distant southeast South Dakota, about as far from [their Black Hills homeland] as one can travel and still be in the state.” South Dakota did not achieve statehood until Nov. 2, 1889.
This adaptation will diminish Red Cloud’s legacy, perpetuate negative stereotypes, and provide incorrect information to young readers: skip. (afterword, acknowledgments, timeline, glossary, historical sites, further information, index) (Nonfiction. 10-16)Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6460-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
With an appealing design and many black-and-white photographs, this paints a vivid, detailed picture of an important labor...
A skillful, compelling account of the complicated history of César Chávez and the farm workers movement, set in the context of the social and political tensions of the times.
“We used to own our slaves. Now we just rent them,” said a farmer in Harvest of Shame, a 1960 documentary about migrant workers. Union leader Chávez started picking produce as an adolescent and knew firsthand the brutal conditions farmworkers endured. Driven to change those conditions and raise wages, Chávez worked ceaselessly to organize California’s migrant workers into a union, which became the United Farm Workers. It successfully pioneered the use of boycotts to support strikes and adopted techniques such as fasting and protest marches from Gandhi and the civil rights movement. But hard-won victories were followed by setbacks at the hands of powerful farm owners and their Teamster allies. The UFW also suffered from increasing tension between Chávez and Filipino-American union leaders, while others criticized Chávez’s emphasis on Catholicism and his aversion to dissent. Brimner’s evenhanded, well-researched narrative uses apt quotes to convey a sense of the people, their actions and their emotions. Appropriately enough, green and purple accent the pages.
With an appealing design and many black-and-white photographs, this paints a vivid, detailed picture of an important labor movement and its controversial yet inspiring leader. (author’s note, further reading, websites, places to visit, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59078-997-1
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
A beautiful book that tells a truth that needs to be told.
A rare look at how music made a positive contribution to World War I.
This picture book makes a striking first impression, opening with a double-page spread of sketched snapshots of 24 African-American soldiers that echo those in Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (2007). Each soldier, whether serious or smiling, gazes out at readers to introduce a story about all the ways the country for which they willingly fought still systematically discriminates against them even during wartime. Like these seemingly disconnected portraits at the beginning, episodic vignettes tell the story of how James “Big Jim” Reese Europe used music to motivate his troops under nearly insurmountable conditions; how the Harlem Hellfighters were often relegated to menial, “grunt work” jobs instead of being sent into battle, and how lynchings persisted at home despite their war efforts abroad. In the story’s most haunting image, the ship on which the soldiers sail passes through the ghostly images of slaves wearing neck shackles, reminding readers that the Middle Passage still affected these black men in 1917. The narrative gaps and Lewis’ focus on so many different individuals and situations make this a work that packs an emotional rather than an informational punch; it’s best when used to supplement a more extensive study of the Harlem Hellfighters.
A beautiful book that tells a truth that needs to be told. (bibliography, notes) (Informational picture book. 10-16)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-56846-246-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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