Set in the rural south in the early 1920s, this terrific picture book uses evocative free verse to describe the building of a school for black children using seed money from Julius Rosenwald, the Sears catalog magnate. Weatherford explains how a Rosenwald grant worked: Local blacks had to make significant contributions (including cash and land) and whites had to provide funds, too. The daunting process is seen through the eyes of Ovella, the bright daughter of a close-knit family of poor sharecroppers. The narrative includes other voices of integrity, among them a former slave, Miss Etta May, who donates her burial money to the school so she can learn to read her Bible. Inspirational but never sentimental, Weatherford tells how the White Oak School opened with used books from the white school. Steeped in historical tradition, Christie’s expressionistic, double-page spreads combine simplified figures, flat expanses of bold color and big brushstrokes in a style that conveys the emotional content of the story. The author’s note highlights the importance of the Rosenwald schools in fostering black pride yet references only one—albeit, primary—source. Accomplished yet accessible, this is an important book for every library. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-439-49522-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nearly a third of this addition to the ``Imagine Living Here'' series describes life in the Australian outback, where ``a mid-sized station with eight thousand sheep is two hundred square miles.'' Cobb states that ``If you lived on the outback of Australia, the only people you would see every day would be your own family''; indeed, the illustration shows a man shearing by hand with just his wife and two children assisting. Is it possible for two adults to shear 8000 sheep without assistance? Balance is a problem throughout; e.g., only one page discusses aboriginal people, while Captain Cook rates three. And, though decorative, the landscapes are so stylized as to be useless for identification, while not only sheep but the platypus, emu, and spiny anteater are all sky blue. Visually striking, but this adds little to the understanding of flora, fauna, or people. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: June 5, 1991
ISBN: 0-8027-6959-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1991
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