Notable for its content more than its execution, this book nevertheless deserves recognition given the relative scarcity of...
This rare firsthand memoir of late-19th-century Santee Dakota life offers a valuable counterpoint to inaccurate and biased accounts of Native American civilizations told by outsiders.
Ohiyesa (1858-1939), also known as Charles Alexander Eastman, wrote 11 books, the first of which was the 1902 account of his youth until age 15, Indian Boyhood. Greatly condensed and simplified for younger readers, this version includes memories of daily life—childhood games, traditional skills and lore learned from elders, times of feast and famine—as well as foreboding signs of changes to come, including expulsion from their land at gunpoint, the capture by the U.S. Army of Ohiyesa’s father and brothers, the incursion of the railroads. Ohiyesa’s original prose was majestic and lyrical, with rich cultural details brought vividly to life over the course of a novel-length work. This 34-page offering is bland by comparison, though intriguing details of a tame grizzly bear and grueling practice for becoming a warrior may inspire curious readers to pick up Ohiyesa’s classic. Detailed notes show the care that was taken to achieve historical accuracy in the illustrations, which unfortunately suffer from inconsistent and awkward proportions.
Notable for its content more than its execution, this book nevertheless deserves recognition given the relative scarcity of historical works that give voice to Native writers. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)Pub Date: March 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-937786-56-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Wisdom Tales
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
An appealingly colorful, deadpan account of a remarkably audacious and creative criminal.
Geisel winner Pizzoli turns from early readers to biography with this story of a consummate 20th-century con man.
In the early 1900s, Robert Miller moved from Eastern Europe to Paris to pursue a university education, ending his studies when he discovered his calling as a professional gambler. Trouble forced Miller to reinvent himself as “Count Victor Lustig” and take to the high seas, where he conned passengers on ocean liners. When World War I ended trans-Atlantic travel, “Lustig” operated in several major European cities. After numerous arrests, Miller went to the United States, where he earned the trust of crime boss Al Capone and pulled off many successful scams. When the police caught on to his schemes, Miller returned to Paris, where he orchestrated his ultimate con, selling the Eiffel Tower to scrap metal dealers. Pizzoli tells this remarkable story with straightforward economy, informational sidebars offering insight into Miller’s times and crimes. The truth behind Miller’s exploits is often difficult to discern, and Pizzoli notes the research challenges in an afterword. His mixed-media graphic artwork perfectly complements the quirky, humorous tone of the story. A particularly nice touch is the use of a fingerprint to stand in for Miller’s face, most appropriate for a man who would be known by 45 different aliases.
An appealingly colorful, deadpan account of a remarkably audacious and creative criminal. (glossary, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01652-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
A friendly chronicle of an offbeat artist.
A portrait of Wisconsin folk artist Mary Nohl (1914-2001) and her sculptures.
As a child, “[w]hile the other girls [take] cooking classes,” Mary learns woodworking and makes an airplane. She helps her father build a house on Lake Michigan’s shore and realizes that she loves to create things with her hands. Collecting driftwood, feathers and rocks, Mary employs her building skills—mixing cement with beach sand, as her father showed her, and spreading it over a support of wood, wire and piping—to create a massive, playful-looking creature. The Küglers use watercolor, digital painting, collage and vintage papers to portray Mary’s world and sculptures. Some of the illustration has a stylized folk-art feel, blocky and angular in mild colors, while Mary’s dogs have rounder lines. Mary’s sculptures vary in scale, so the illustrations play with scale too. In one example, Mary and her dogs discover “a marvelous creature washed up on the sand.” The purple, wavy-limbed object looks enormous—until the following spread reveals it to be a small, beige piece of driftwood. That driftwood becomes an antler on Mary’s huge, sculpted creature. An author’s note explains Mary’s eccentricities—melting silverware, painting on indoor carpeting—and the controversy of her neighborhood’s refusal to allow public visitors into her garden of odd, fantastical creatures.
A friendly chronicle of an offbeat artist. (author’s note, photos) (Picture book/biography. 6-9)Pub Date: March 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-27220-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
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