Read as an ode to Aretha Franklin rather than as a true biography.
The early beginnings and professional life of the prolific singer and activist are presented in this LP–shaped picture book.
The text is presented in rhyming couplets, one per double-page spread, with a spelled-out lead word printed in block letters setting each one up. “B-L-E-S-S-E-D” leads off, and the titular “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” introduces the final couplet. The short stanzas move the book quickly from one point in Franklin’s life to the next, hinting kaleidoscopically at who she was and why she was so important. Children with no previous familiarity with the subject will require context from caregivers to understand most points. (A narrative biographical note sums up the main points in the backmatter.) Weatherford acknowledges that Franklin’s mother left the family when her preacher father was unfaithful: “Clarence and Barbara Franklin can’t seem to agree. / Daddy wasn’t faithful, so Mama chose to flee.” The spread that includes this information is introduced with “S-T-R-I-F-E,” and the illustration is almost identical to one seen earlier symbolically showing the family establishing roots in “D-E-T-R-O-I-T.” Though Barbara is missing from the “S-T-R-I-F-E” illustration, Clarence wears the same grin, and the effect is unsettling. Overall, the striking, richly colored, painterly illustrations work well with the text and perform due homage to Franklin, but the story of Franklin’s life is left wanting. The oversized, 11 ¼-inch-square trim fittingly accommodates its subject.
Read as an ode to Aretha Franklin rather than as a true biography. (discography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5228-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Sage, soothing ideas for a busy, loud, sometimes-divisive world.
In an inviting picture book, Chelsea and Hillary Clinton share personal revelations on how gardening with a grandmother, a mother, and children shapes and nurtures a love and respect for nature, beauty, and a general philosophy for life.
Grandma Dorothy, the former senator, secretary of state, and presidential candidate’s mother, loved gardens, appreciating the multiple benefits they yielded for herself and her family. The Clinton women reminisce about their beloved forebear and all she taught them in a color-coded, alternating text, blue for Chelsea and green for Hillary. Via brief yet explicit remembrances, they share what they learned, observed, and most of all enjoyed in gardens with her. Each double-page spread culminates in a declarative statement set in italicized red text invoking Dorothy’s wise words. Gardens can be many things: places for celebration, discovery and learning, vehicles for teaching responsibility in creating beauty, home to wildlife large and small, a place to share stories and develop memories. Though operating from very personal experience rooted in class privilege, the mother-daughter duo mostly succeeds in imparting a universally significant message: Whether visiting a public garden or working in the backyard, generations can cultivate a lasting bond. Lemniscates uses an appropriately floral palette to evoke the gardens explored by these three white women. A Spanish edition, Los jardines de la abuela, publishes simultaneously; Teresa Mlawer’s translation is fluid and pleasing, in at least one case improving on the original.
Sage, soothing ideas for a busy, loud, sometimes-divisive world. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11535-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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