A gorgeously illustrated, truthfully told history that no collection should be without.
The Alabama River tells its story—a tale as long and wide as the waterway itself.
Reminiscent of Langston Hughes’ The Negro Speaks of Rivers, illustrated by E.B. Lewis (2009), this elegantly wrought, first-person telling is both human and natural history. Lines from Negro spirituals that sing of rivers, like “Wade in the Water,” appear between Weatherford’s stanzas in a scriptlike font. The Alabama describes its size (“318 miles long, fifty to 200 yards wide, / and from three to forty feet deep”) and notes that its Choctaw name means “Thicket Clearers.” It also recalls enslaved Africans hiding in its waters as they sought freedom and the Cherokee people who passed its banks on the Trail of Tears. Throughout, Collier’s signature collage illustrations add richness, depth, hope, and light to the river’s weighty story. Weatherford never flinches from the horrors of oppression: victims of lynching thrown into the river, civil rights protesters beaten as they made their way across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. But Collier’s paintings emphasize Black and Native Americans’ determination to survive and triumph. The inclusion of blue spheres—a motif that pops up in many of the illustrator’s works—suggests that the downtrodden, like air bubbles, will rise. Weatherford’s extensive historical timeline will give budding historians much to consider and research further.
A gorgeously illustrated, truthfully told history that no collection should be without. (Informational picture book. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9781681198187
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care.
In 1977, the oil carrier Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into a formerly pristine Alaskan ocean inlet, killing millions of birds, animals, and fish. Despite a cleanup, crude oil is still there.
The Winters foretold the destructive powers of the atomic bomb allusively in The Secret Project (2017), leaving the actuality to the backmatter. They make no such accommodations to young audiences in this disturbing book. From the dark front cover, on which oily blobs conceal a seabird, to the rescuer’s sad face on the back, the mother-son team emphasizes the disaster. A relatively easy-to-read and poetically heightened text introduces the situation. Oil is pumped from the Earth “all day long, all night long, / day after day, year after year” in “what had been unspoiled land, home to Native people // and thousands of caribou.” The scale of extraction is huge: There’s “a giant pipeline” leading to “enormous ships.” Then, crash. Rivers of oil gush out over three full-bleed wordless pages. Subsequent scenes show rocks, seabirds, and sea otters covered with oil. Finally, 30 years later, animals have returned to a cheerful scene. “But if you lift a rock… // oil / seeps / up.” For an adult reader, this is heartbreaking. How much more difficult might this be for an animal-loving child?
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3077-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
IN THE NEWS
A thorough and comprehensive treatment of the subject.
This guide to the various components of researching family history provides helpful hints for young genealogists.
Interest in family research continues across ages, and this volume explores all aspects in great detail. It begins by pointing out that all humankind began in the same place—eastern Africa—and shares what scholars believe about how various groups spread throughout the world. From then on, personal genealogy is approached as a mystery to be solved, a strategy designed to engage its target audience. The recognition that there are many types of families is a critical part of the text. All kinds of threads are explored, from documentary evidence to family stories, with suggestions on how to evaluate them. Each topic is fully described. For example, in addition to addressing how to use census data, the book discusses the origins of the census and the parts that are relevant to family research. The section on DNA is brief but gives scientific perspective. Very little is left to chance, including how to store, preserve, and retrieve the accumulated data. The narrative is inviting and lively in tone, but it doesn’t shy away from potential difficulties. It is richly illustrated in full color with sidebars to provide additional information, though some pages feel too full to digest. Diversity is woven throughout the text, illustrations, sidebars, and graphics.
A thorough and comprehensive treatment of the subject. (glossary, further resources, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2983-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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