A charming, light, and personal introduction to saints and their symbolism.
Two-time Caldecott winner Raschka shares his mother’s special way to visit a church: “saint spotting.”
“A church is a weighty thing, isn’t it?” With heavy doors, high ceilings, and stone walls, a church can be an intimidating place for a child. Raschka invites readers to think differently by joining a school-age version of himself and his mother on a personal tour—complete with a painted map. Saint spotting is just what it sounds like: a sort of religious scavenger hunt in which one spots saints by their associated symbols inside a church. Through Raschka’s brief introductions, readers learn about 36 saints and their symbols, including the most important figures of Christianity: Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and the Evangelists. Illustrations in broadly stroked watercolor primarily of golden hues boost the book’s warmth and welcoming tone. Beautiful endpapers depict rows of animals, such as doves and lambs, that underscore the book’s biblical nature. The book begins and ends with an illustration of Raschka and his mother, hand in hand, at the entrance of a huge Gothic church with a beautiful stained-glass rose window, the book’s exceptionally narrow trim echoing the verticality of the building. Clearly this was a special shared mother-son childhood experience, and readers will leave feeling like they were just let in on a cherished secret game. Most characters depicted, including the protagonist and his mother, present White, but there are some saints of color.
A charming, light, and personal introduction to saints and their symbolism. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5521-3
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This picture book about the founder of Sikhism relies more on myth than substance.
In 1469, an extraordinary child was born to a Hindu family in Talwandi, India. Full of laughter and bathed in light, baby Nanak was clearly destined for greatness.
From a young age, Nanak resisted the rules of Hinduism, rejecting the oppressive structure of the caste system and questioning the necessity of religious rituals. He was, however, extremely devout. After his marriage at 18, Nanak left his family to travel the world, promising to return once he fulfilled his destiny. For the next 25 years, Nanak traveled all over Asia, spreading his message and gaining disciples. Those whom he met were awed by Nanak’s supernatural abilities, including reading minds, squeezing milk and blood out of food, and even causing the Kaaba in Mecca to move. When he finally returned to his family, Nanak had amassed a huge congregation—the basis of Sikhism, a religion that is still practiced widely today. This picture book contains a number of interesting tales about Guru Nanak, each of which is illustrated in a style reminiscent of Indian miniature painting. However, the story says little about the tenets of the Sikh religion, relegating this information to the afterword. Furthermore, the text often presents Sikhism in opposition to Hinduism and Islam rather than defining it as a profound and complex belief system in its own right.
This picture book about the founder of Sikhism relies more on myth than substance. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-937786-89-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Wisdom Tales
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Ably makes useful connections.
Two activists’ paths overlap as they call out systems of injustice.
Joachim Prinz was born in 1902 in Germany, and he became the country’s youngest rabbi in 1926. When Adolf Hitler came to power, Prinz spoke up against antisemitism and was arrested several times before finally leaving Germany for the United States in 1937—where he was dismayed to find Black people being deprived of equal rights, as Jews had been in Germany. Meanwhile, Martin Luther King Jr. experienced segregation as a boy in the 1930s. When he became a leader of the civil rights movement, the two leaders met, supported each other, and fought together. The juxtaposition of these two leaders’ paths and the explanation of what their causes, beliefs, and communities had in common is, in Ades’ hands, a well-woven historical tale that is worth sharing and spreading. The culmination of the story in 1963 at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom allows young readers to see both that King was not the only speaker at that famous event and that those by his side had also worked for years. The illustrations focus largely on the main figures but also offer scenes of daily life in Germany and the United States. Scenes of protest are styled, scrapbooklike, as black-and-white faux photos against monochromatic backgrounds. Details from each leader’s childhood add depth to their stories, and the focus on silence as the enemy points to readers’ responsibility to speak up against injustice.
Ably makes useful connections. (timeline, glossary, resources) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-54158-976-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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