This lyrical tribute to the 44th U.S. President describes Barack Obama’s diverse childhood experiences and his various mentors and concludes with his successful presidential election. Struggling for self-acceptance, Obama’s search for racial identity led him to his father’s Kenyan homeland before establishing his family and expanding his political ambitions. Obama’s noteworthy quotations are highlighted on each double-page spread, adding a powerful personal element to this rhythmic narrative and revealing a talented orator and inspirational leader. Though his recreational drug use is briefly described, Obama is depicted more as an iconic saint uniting the masses than a multifaceted, flawed human being. “He mirrored the best of all of us, and the good in all of us. / More than a poet, he was a candle in the darkness.” Barrett’s oil paintings successfully create depth by varying dominant features against muted, shaded backdrops. Expressive faces convey a dramatic tension. Weatherford’s commemorative “American Baptism” provides a powerful finale to this undeniably passionate offering. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5641-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2010
In a moving tribute to the power of books and words, Winters (But Mom, Everyone Else Does, p. 1239, etc.) introduces a young backwoods child who watched “peddlers, pioneers, / politicians, traders, slaves / pass by,” down the old Cumberland Trail, until “his ideas stretched. / His questions rose. / His dreams were stirred”—and he was caught with a love of learning that carried him “from the wilderness / to the White House.” In a mix of vignettes and larger scenes, Carpenter (A Far-Fetched Story, 2002, etc.) plants her lanky lad, generally with book in hand, amid a variety of rustic and early American scenes as he passes from infant to president. Using strong, economical language, Winter recounts selected incidents from Lincoln’s life that point up several aspects of his character, sums up her thesis at the end (“He learned the power of words / and used them well”), then closes with a supplemental afterword that does not, unlike Amy Cohn’s Abraham Lincoln (2002), misrepresent the Emancipation Proclamation. For bookish young readers in search of a role model, here’s the best one since Jean Fritz introduced St. Columba in The Man Who Loved Books (1981). (Picture book/biography. 7-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-82554-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The author of Davy Crockett Saves the World (2001) builds a convincing case for adding Ben Franklin to the pantheon of American tall-tale heroes. To comic scenes featuring a gnomic, potbellied Franklin jovially presenting various inventions, experiments, and incidents from his life, Schanzer adds a rousing litany of feats and abilities: “Why, Ben Franklin could swim faster, argue better, and write funnier stories than practically anyone in colonial America. He was a musician, a printer, a cartoonist and a world traveler!” And “he really did steal lightning right out of the sky! And then he set out to tame the beast.” How? With a series of experiments, including the famous one with the kite—luckily, the storm wasn’t a severe one, or “the great inventor would have been toast”—and then the introduction of the lightning rod, which has saved thousands of lives over the years. Capped by an afterword that adds even more luster to Franklin’s career, this effervescent tribute will give legions of young readers a peerless role model, whose actual, well-documented deeds need no exaggeration. (source note) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-688-16993-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
