With affection, warmth, and deep pride, the youngest son of the highest-ranking member of the New York City Fire Department to die on 9/11 has written the story of his father’s life and unswerving devotion to his job. The style is conversational and often inspirational as Ganci briefly traces his father’s childhood, beginning as a firefighter and rising through the ranks, where he combined leadership with a sense of humor. Relying on accounts of survivors, Ganci then tells of his father’s last moments, helping to direct rescue efforts and rushing into the North Tower just moments before it fell. His concluding words are a tribute to all those who died and an elegy to a father whom he obviously loved dearly. The many color photographs are credited on the acknowledgment page and a brief glossary explains terminology used. Even though the mood can be somber, young readers will find that Pete Ganci was a lively and energetic man, husband, father, and proud chief. (Biography. 8-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-439-44386-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
A handsome, well-designed book and a terrific, engaging read, this is an openly affectionate portrait of Rockwell as both the man and the artist. Young Norman left high school at fifteen to study at the National Academy and the Art Students League. He was just eighteen when he became the art director for the Boy Scouts’ Boys’ Life magazine. Shortly thereafter, Rockwell was shocked that The Saturday Evening Post bought the first two paintings he showed them and immediately commissioned three more covers! These two early associations shaped his long, productive, and lucrative career. Gherman (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1996) takes her readers into the studio and skillfully blends biographical details into her survey of Rockwell’s techniques, models, and imagery. Parents and teachers will welcome the opportunity to introduce his inspirational WWII suite of paintings “The Four Freedoms” (based on Roosevelt’s speech) to contemporary children. Once seen, few will forget “The Problem We All Live With” (his 1964 Look Magazine painting of a young Ruby Bridges escorted into her New Orleans elementary school flanked by Federal marshals). Open page design, attractive typeface, and generous white space set off a luscious sampling of well-chosen full color reproductions and fascinating black and while photos. This biography is well timed; Rockwell and his oeuvre are in international resurgence. Critics are finally acknowledging that Rockwell’s “high art’ aesthetic both intersects with and transcends popular culture. The buzz generated by the Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People show now touring the country’s major museums will definitely reach the elementary school set. As such, this appealing biography will certainly meet and exceed the expectations of a burgeoning new audience for the artist’s life and work. (Biography. 8-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82001-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
Thanks to the strenuous efforts of her successor, Tuthmosis III, to eliminate all evidence of her 15th-century
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82562-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
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