En pointe for any lovers of dance or its history.
A high-stepping tribute to a young dancer who hit her stride not onstage but at a rodeo.
Though she did become a renowned choreographer—and much more besides—the path that young Agnes de Mille takes from dance-obsessed childhood to breakthrough success in this gracefully illustrated account is neither straight nor easy. Invariably posed in a balletic stance or leap, her slender figure whirls across the pages from California to New York to London, studying for years ways to incorporate “a bit of ballet, / a fragment of folk, / a morsel of modern” into her own personal style of expression. Her fortunes change at last when, bouncing back from a Broadway flop, she spins memories of a visit to Colorado into a ballet titled Rodeo, about a “plucky, misfit cowgirl— / a bit like Agnes herself.” Urbinati ends with the curtain drawing back on opening night; Bobrow goes on in an afterword to fill in the details of that 1942 premiere (22 curtain calls!) and to analyze how, in her “long and illustrious” life, de Mille’s distinct sensibility “captured not only the spirit of a cowgirl but the heart of a nation.” That she worked with both Black and white dancers in the 1930s goes unmentioned by the author, but Urbinati picks up on it, and the dancers’ sense of movement—everyone looks ready to burst into action—strongly reflects the narrative’s buoyant, irresistible energy.
En pointe for any lovers of dance or its history. (photograph, selected sources) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9781665957878
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case.
The distinguished jurist stands tall as a role model.
Not literally tall, of course—not only was she actually tiny but, as with all the other bobbleheaded caricatures in the “Ordinary People Change the World” series, Ginsburg, sporting huge eyeglasses on an outsize head over black judicial robes even in childhood, remains a doll-like figure in all of Eliopoulos’ cartoon scenes. It’s in the frank acknowledgment of the sexism and antisemitism she resolutely overcame as she went from reading about “real female heroes” to becoming one—and also the clear statement of how she so brilliantly applied the principle of “tikkun olam” (“repairing the world”) in her career to the notion that women and men should have the same legal rights—that her stature comes clear. For all the brevity of his profile, Meltzer spares some attention for her private life, too (“This is Marty. He loved me, and he loved my brains. So I married him!”). Other judicial activists of the past and present, all identified and including the current crop of female Supreme Court justices, line up with a diversely hued and abled group of younger followers to pay tribute in final scenes. “Fight for the things you care about,” as a typically savvy final quote has it, “but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case. (timeline, photos, source list, further reading) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780593533338
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
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