Unusual, well done, and useful in many settings.
A modern book of the saints.
Wallace presents the stories, actual or apocryphal, of 80 men and women who served God so well that they were elevated to sainthood after their deaths, arranged chronologically from Polycarp (69-156 C.E.) to Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997). Each two- to three-page account includes where the saint lived, who they are considered patron of, and their emblem and feast day. The saints included span centuries and cultures, including well-known figures such as Joan of Arc and Thomas Aquinas, more obscure ones like Mary of Egypt and John Nepomucene, and those from non-Western cultures such as Josephine Bakhita, who originally came from Sudan, and Martin de Porres, a mixed-race Peruvian of African and European descent. Wallace points out in her introduction that while some saints’ stories are historically documented, others, particularly the very early ones, are more along the lines of folktakes. “Just because we can’t be sure a story really happened doesn’t mean it isn’t true in another way.” That’s good, since some of them are frankly gruesome—Lucy with her eyes plucked out and handed to her on a dish, calmly reinserts them and can still see—as well as perplexing. Wallace presents them all with quiet confidence that the stories matter, and she convinces us that they do. Thornborrow’s illustrations combine traditional iconography with modern graphic art, effectively dramatizing each tale.
Unusual, well done, and useful in many settings. (Religion. 8-adult)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9327-2
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A fine and harrowing true story behind an American classic.
In her first work of nonfiction for young readers (Sylvia & Aki, 2011), Conkling presents the true story of Emily Edmonson and her five siblings who escaped from slavery only to be caught and sent further south.
Amelia Culver never wanted to marry, knowing marriage meant inevitable heartbreak when children were born into slavery and sold in the slave markets. But she married Paul Edmonson anyway, and sure enough, her children, upon reaching age 12 or 13, were taken and hired out in Washington, D.C. Her 13-year-old daughter Emily and Emily’s siblings shared their mother’s dream of freedom, and in 1848, they took part in what became the largest slave escape attempt in American history. Down the Potomac River they fled on the Pearl, and by the time they neared the Chesapeake Bay, they were captured and sold South, where Emily and her sister Mary were in danger of being sold into the sex trade. Eventually, they were returned to Virginia and ransomed with help from the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, whose sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, modeled characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Emily and Mary Edmonson. Clearly written, well-documented, and chock full of maps, sidebars, and reproductions of photographs and engravings, the fascinating volume covers a lot of history in a short space. Conkling uses the tools of a novelist to immerse readers in Emily’s experiences.
A fine and harrowing true story behind an American classic. (timeline, family tree, source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61620-196-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
Compelling and informative for a broad readership and a good addition to STEM collections.
The author and his collaborator have condensed the original memoir of the same name, a story of an innovative and compassionate boy coming of age during an era of extreme hardship in Malawi.
This newest incarnation of Kamkwamba’s tale is as absorbing as its predecessor and still delivers with equanimity facts both disturbing and inspiring. Kamkwamba describes his early life in Masitala, a tiny rural village where, typically, large families of subsistence farmers lived in huts without electricity or running water. Until December 2000, Kamkwamba’s life reads like an African parallel to the idyllic, early-20th-century scenes in Sterling North’s Rascal: soccer with balls made from plastic bags; juicy mangoes and crunchy grasshoppers; storytelling by the light of a kerosene lamp; experiments with old radio parts; loyal friends and faithful pet. A perfect storm of deforestation, governmental changes, flooding and drought creates a sudden famine. The text does not spare readers the effects of starvation and grinding poverty on humans and animals. However, there are also many descriptions of how and why power-generating inventions work, and the passages about creating tools from almost nothing are reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series. Against astounding odds, Kamkwamba’s eventual creation of a windmill to bring lighting to his family’s home is nothing short of amazing.
Compelling and informative for a broad readership and a good addition to STEM collections. (map, prologue, photographs, epilogue, acknowledgments) (Memoir. 11-16)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4080-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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