Parks’ photography gave a powerful and memorable face to racism in America; this book gives him to young readers.
He aimed his camera lens at fashion models and at struggling African-American workers.
Parks, a talented and multifaceted man, was born in the Midwest in 1915 and attended a school where the white teacher told the black students that they would “all end up porters and waiters.” But Parks, at 25, was inspired by a magazine article and spent $7.50 on a used camera. He went on to work in Washington, D.C., for the Farm Security Administration, capturing pictures of African-Americans in their everyday lives—not the white men of the monuments. Famously, he portrayed a cleaning lady name Ella Watson in a portrait that became known as his American Gothic. Echoing the farmers in Grant Woods’ painting, Watson posed in front of an American flag with a broom in one hand and a mop in the other. Weatherford writes in the present tense with intensity, carefully choosing words that concisely evoke the man. Christoph’s digitally rendered illustrations brilliantly present Parks’ world through strong linear images and montages of his photographs. One double-page spread hauntingly portrays run-down buildings with the Capitol Dome hovering in the distance.
Parks’ photography gave a powerful and memorable face to racism in America; this book gives him to young readers. (afterword, author’s note, photographs) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8075-3017-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
A taste of the Big Easy that may whet appetites for a real visit—not to mention a healthy snack.
A luscious tribute to a New Orleans institution and to the city he supplies.
Mr. Okra stands beside his brightly decorated produce truck, with its prominent “BE NICE OR LEAVE!” signs. He’s rather brightly decorated himself, with his red-and-white striped shirt and yellow suspenders in Henriquez’s painted illustrations, and he smiles benevolently through fluffy whiskers as he sings out his wares. Daley pairs each of his cries to a city sight: the “P” sounds in “I got peaches, pears, and apples” are reminiscent of the percussive rhythms in Congo Square; his thin, tall asparagus recall the steeples of the St. Louis Cathedral; the eggplants he proffers are “as dark as the coffee at Café du Monde.” Colored words in the text match the tempting colors of his fruits and veggies, and they also often echo the hues of the selected locales and landmarks. At day’s end, the truck motors off “like a big cargo ship on the Mississippi River,” leaving behind a personal note from the man himself and warm feelings all round. Though the human figures are often stiff in the lightly outlined watercolor illustrations, Henriquez captures the rainbow of humanity that is New Orleans.
A taste of the Big Easy that may whet appetites for a real visit—not to mention a healthy snack. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4556-2112-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
She didn’t like people passing her on the trail, the author notes, but readers could do worse than follow behind.
A tribute to the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in one go.
Houts milks the tale for its inspirational value. The industrious mother of 11 and an inveterate walker, 67-year-old Emma Gatewood reads a magazine story about men who had taken the 2,000-mile hike and: “ ‘Hmmph,’ thought spunky old Emma. ‘If a man can do it, so can I!’ ” Her first try, starting from Maine’s Mount Katahdin, quickly ends in failure—her sturdy, no-nonsense white frame reduced, in Magnus’ painted scene, to a picture of misery, covered in scratches and black fly welts. She hits her stride on the second try, going south to north through verdant woods and living comfortably off the land for nearly five months in 1955. “I did it. I said I’d do it, and I’ve done it!” (Just for good measure, she went on to do it twice more.) Aside from a pair of farm children who greet her along the way and one face in a crowd scene, everyone in the illustrations is white. The author leaves out the not-always-pleasant details of Gatewood’s private life (covered, for older audiences, in Ben Montgomery’s Grandma Gatewood’s Walk, 2014) but adds more about her later treks, plus a photo, at the end, then closes by inviting readers to “think of Grandma Gatewood as you set your sights on your own goals. No matter what mountains might stand in your way.”
She didn’t like people passing her on the trail, the author notes, but readers could do worse than follow behind. (source note) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8214-2235-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Ohio Univ.
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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