Masterfully explains how a classic series came to be while maintaining a sense of mystery and wonder.
A vivid portrait of inspiration and imagination focuses on teamwork and historical fact.
C.S. “Jack” and Warren “Warnie” Lewis were brothers and best friends, curious dreamers and inspired playmates, but they probably never guessed that their games would help fire the imaginations of generations of children. Following the two from early childhood to later life, straightforward, energetic text paired with appealing, specific, and skillful illustrations provides background for the genesis of Lewis’ ideas (Norse legend, Raj-era India, Irish shipyards, and English boarding schools all played a role). However, rather than exclusively focusing on interesting or chronological details (though both are included), McAlister looks at how Narnia was born. She finds its roots in the brothers’ invented worlds, their on-again, off-again partnership, the different directions their lives took, the behavior of wartime refugee children who stayed in their home, and, of course, the presence of a magical wardrobe in their childhood. Lanan’s paintings combine homey views of the family’s Belfast house, pictures, maps, and diagrams of their imagined world, and luminous, magical paintings of Narnia. In a nice touch, the focus extends to the endnotes, where McAlister, as biographer, and Lanan, as illustrator, mention their own research discoveries and related artistic choices.
Masterfully explains how a classic series came to be while maintaining a sense of mystery and wonder. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62672-658-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pretty but substance-free—which is probably not how any of this book’s subjects would like to be remembered.
Inspired by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s stand against the appointment of Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general—and titled for Sen. Mitch McConnell’s stifling of same—glancing introductions to 13 American women who “persisted.”
Among the figures relatively familiar to the audience are Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, and Ruby Bridges; among the more obscure are union organizer Clara Lemlich, physician Virginia Apgar, and Olympian Florence Griffith Joyner. Sonia Sotomayor and Oprah Winfrey are two readers may already have some consciousness of. The women have clearly been carefully selected to represent American diversity, although there are significant gaps—there are no Asian-American women, for instance—and the extreme brevity of the coverage leads to reductivism and erasure: Osage dancer Maria Tallchief is identified only as “Native American,” and lesbian Sally Ride’s sexual orientation is elided completely. Clinton’s prose is almost bloodless, running to such uninspiring lines as, about Margaret Chase Smith, “she persisted in championing women’s rights and more opportunities for women in the military, standing up for free speech and supporting space exploration.” Boiger does her best to compensate, creating airy watercolors full of movement for each double-page spread. Quotations are incorporated into illustrations—although the absence of dates and context leaves them unmoored. That’s the overall feeling readers will get, as the uniformity of presentation and near-total lack of detail makes this overview so broad as to be ineffectual. The failure to provide any sources for further information should the book manage to pique readers’ interests simply exacerbates the problem.
Pretty but substance-free—which is probably not how any of this book’s subjects would like to be remembered. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5247-4172-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Sure to have readers booking their own trips to catch the next brief but memorable solar eclipse.
A total solar eclipse brings a father and son closer together.
After learning in school about the eclipse’s impending arrival, a curious young boy excitedly figures out the best time and place to see it. His father agrees to transport him to the woods to view the eclipse, and the child describes everything that happens at various points—two months before the eclipse, then a month, a week, a day, an hour, a minute, and the exciting second before the sun slips behind the moon. Time seems to stand still, and the creatures in the woods are baffled by what appears to be an early nightfall. Then the countdown begins again, with the boy describing what happens after the eclipse—one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one year, and even longer. The moment has become a shared memory that enhances the bond between father and son and inspires future eclipse-chasing expeditions. Based on the author’s actual experience with his own son in 2017, this picture book features lively, child-friendly digital artwork filled with scenes of nature, matter-of-fact text that acknowledges the awesomeness of this rare phenomenon, and useful maps that chart the solar eclipse of 2017 and projected paths for future eclipses. Father and son are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sure to have readers booking their own trips to catch the next brief but memorable solar eclipse. (more information on eclipses) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781338608823
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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