Nutcracker aficionados can enjoy a background overture to a Christmas classic.
From Russia with battling mice and waltzing flowers.
In the early 20th century, three brothers from Utah caught dancing fever and went on to join the vaudeville circuit, performing all across America. One of the brothers went on to Portland, Oregon, to start a ballet school and, following the advice of a Russian émigré conductor, used music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker to choreograph dances for his students. Two of the three siblings found themselves in San Francisco in 1944 in search of a big-ticket number for the San Francisco Ballet. Everyone helped on the production, but it was not until 1949, with all three brothers working together, that The Nutcracker as an annual Christmas tradition began. Barton writes with an easygoing, folksy style with, perhaps, an overreliance on the phrase “the whole shebang.” Though Barton ably does here what he did for the inventor subjects of Sibert honoree The Day-Glo Brothers, illustrated by Tony Persiani (2009), balletomanes will regret that he doesn’t go into greater detail about the actual San Francisco Ballet production. Gendron’s oil paintings present scenes from the lives of the brothers and from the staging of the ballet. A swirling ribbon is an appropriate ongoing motif, but too often the dancers appear in stiff, cardboard poses.
Nutcracker aficionados can enjoy a background overture to a Christmas classic. (author’s note, illustrator’s note, timeline, summary, photographs, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-2151-6
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Delightful.
Kenyan orphan Kitoo discovers ice hockey through his love of reading.
When the librarian at the orphanage offers Kitoo some old books that will be discarded, he is thrilled to own books. One of the books about sports shows people playing ice hockey. The librarian, Mrs. Kyatha, explains what ice is and tells him that people play roller hockey in a park in a nearby city. Kitoo is enthralled, but even with his active imagination and hopefulness, he is sure he will never get to see hockey in real life. But on his next trip to the city with the orphanage’s driver, he finds a way to go to the park and watch the hockey players, and on his way out, he finds discarded roller blades in the trash. He brings the skates home, gets help fixing them, and practices skating until he is skilled. His best friend, Nigosi, encourages him to hope that he may see ice one day, but Kitoo’s imagination won’t stretch that far. But with some help from mentors and his friend, he gets to visit the only ice rink in all of East Africa. This simple story of discovery, sport, and friendship is filled with likable characters and innocently joyful moments. Its basis in the real-life Hope Development Centre orphanage (founded by co-author Mutinda’s parents) makes its themes of hope, hard work, kindness, and triumph all the more memorable. Full- and half-page black-and-white illustrations bring the boys’ adventures to life.
Delightful. (Fiction. 5-10)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4598-2361-7
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A rallying cry for anyone looking for a strong example of perseverance.
Brazilian surfer Gabeira offers a fictionalized version of her childhood with this story of an adventurous young girl who overcomes sexism and self-doubt to become a great athlete.
The inhabitants of the fishing village of Nazaré, Portugal, are in awe of a massive wave known as the Beast. A young villager named Maya has asthma and brings medicine with her wherever she goes; though shy, Maya finds fulfillment when moving her body during dancing, gymnastics, and swimming. Having grown up hearing about the Beast, she goes to see it for herself and is in awe of the massive wave, though she also notices boys surfing on it. Maya decides to try surfing, which her father encourages. The boys at the beach tell her surfing is no sport for girls, and she nearly believes them until a voice in a seashell tells her not to give up. Both text and illustrations offer a stirring account of Maya’s journey to surfing mastery. The Beast begins as a spectacle from afar, filling the page with its sheer scope. Maya is often framed within or beneath its crest, including a wonderful scene of her would-be hecklers watching dumbfounded as she joyously surfs ahead of them. Maya and her family are brown-skinned; for the most part, other residents of Nazaré range in skin color from tan to brown. In an author’s note, Gabeira describes growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and, in 2007, setting a Guinness record for the largest wave ever surfed at Praia de Norte in Nazaré. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A rallying cry for anyone looking for a strong example of perseverance. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4197-6000-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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