This car-centered history lesson is a lemon.
Three titans of industry (and one writer) rough it.
Inventor Thomas Edison and car manufacturer Henry Ford are tired from their jobs making “life easier for others.” They decide to go on vacation and motor off to explore the country in one of Ford’s Model T’s. They invite along their friend nature writer John Burroughs; the next summer, Ford and Edison take another trip, this time with tire kingpin Harvey Firestone. Finally, all four of them decide to travel together, and the foursome innovate the road trip. The book describes the places they visited, the activities they enjoyed, and how these stuffy old figures from history “acted more like kids at camp than men on vacation.” Busy illustrations in a muted palette, reminiscent of sepia films highlighted with green and orange, help make this feel like an old-timey movie. While some children, especially those with an interest in history, will get a kick out of this lighthearted but informational text, the niche topic will limit its audience. Furthermore, the overall cheerful tone means that Henry Ford—an outspoken Nazi sympathizer admired greatly by Adolf Hitler—comes off as a peculiar but lovable gentleman, a complicated authorial choice. Extensive backmatter includes photographs, a map, and further anecdotes from the foursome’s joint vacations, which stretched over a decade. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This car-centered history lesson is a lemon. (afterword, bibliography, further resources, photo credits) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68437-272-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful argument for seeing and celebrating color.
The love and appreciation of color shines through this vibrant retrospective on activism, courage, and resistance.
As an emphatic corrective to the oft-repeated but misguided phrase “I don’t see color,” luminous digital illustrations offer an unabashed education in race, culture, and the history of hard-fought social justice wins. An omniscient narrator sees a full palette, from the “smoky quartz” of Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich, Tlingit activists whose advocacy led to the United States’ first anti-discrimination laws, to the “golden embers” of Native Hawaiian protesters such as Haunani-Kay Trask, who pushed for the U.S. government to acknowledge its role in overthrowing the Kingdom of Hawaii. Using color as a framework that goes beyond skin and race, this picture book celebrates well-known people and their accomplishments, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches or the labor activism of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. The book also illuminates often-overlooked figures, such as Fred Korematsu, who brought a Supreme Court case against the U.S. government in 1944 over the incarceration of Japanese Americans; Madonna Thunder Hawk, who fought tirelessly against the Dakota Access Pipeline; and Ayọ Tometi, Alicia Garza, and Patrisse Cullors, who founded the Black Lives Matter movement. Each color that’s emphasized, from “powdered oak” to “gleaming stardust,” not only paints a rich portrait but also provides texture to a cause or cultural context. Backmatter includes authors’ notes and brief bios of the illustrious figures included throughout to guide further research.
A powerful argument for seeing and celebrating color. (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9780063234260
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
A straightforward and informative primer on Pride and the community it engenders.
Why do rainbow flags often appear each June? Stonewall Award–winning author Lukoff offers an explanation.
Every year, queer folks and their allies come together to observe Pride—“a reminder for everyone to be proud of who they are.” After the Stonewall rebellion in June 1969 in New York City—a night when gay men and women and trans people “decided to fight back” after enduring frequent arrests by police—and the yearly parades that followed in its wake, San Francisco designer Gilbert Baker developed the rainbow Pride flag as a “symbol of hope for LGBTQIA+ people.” Lukoff explores the meanings behind the different colors of the most common Pride flag, from yellow (“sunlight”), which represents coming out of the closet and “being out in the light,” to orange (“healing”), which conveys the importance of seeking support. Though this yearly celebration has been co-opted by rampant commercialism, Lukoff returns to its roots, focusing on the community-building aspects of Pride. Other flags are featured such as the trans, genderqueer, asexual, and bisexual flags, yet they aren’t labeled or delved into further—a missed opportunity to emphasize the ever-growing queer community (the Progress Pride flag isn’t included at all). The upbeat digital illustrations depict people of different ages, races, genders, and sexualities. A note for parents offers basic child-friendly definitions of each of the terms in the initialism LGBTQIA.
A straightforward and informative primer on Pride and the community it engenders. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593807859
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Golden Books/Random
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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