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THIS BRIDGE WILL NOT BE GRAY

Name: THIS BRIDGE WILL NOT BE GRAY
Author: Dave Eggers
ISBN: 978-1-940450-47-6

by Dave Eggers ; illustrated by Tucker Nichols ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 27, 2015

That it’s the “best-known and best-loved bridge in the world” is arguable; if it is, one wonders why it needs a...

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Gray bridges abound, but there’s only one major one that’s orange—and here’s how that happened.

Striving for whimsy when he’s not being patronizing—“It was a long trip, but the pieces of steel did not mind, for they are inanimate objects”—Eggers tracks the building of the Golden Gate Bridge from rejected design proposals (“It was functional, but it was grotesque”) on. Along with giving the bridge’s innovative features a light once-over, he introduces the project’s three main architects. One had designed the Manhattan Bridge, “believed to be in or near New York City,” as Eggers coyly puts it; another led the populist campaign to keep the finished structure the International Orange with which its prefabricated steel parts were (and still are) coated because it “somehow looked right.” Whether young readers will find these observations, or such lines as, “Sometimes the things humans make baffle even the humans who make them,” illuminating is anybody’s guess. In broad collages assembled from large pieces of cut paper, Nichols illustrates the enterprise with stylized portrait heads and abstract views of golden hills set against blue (or sometimes gray) expanses of sea and sky. The finished bridge poses grandly in several.

That it’s the “best-known and best-loved bridge in the world” is arguable; if it is, one wonders why it needs a self-conscious, 104-page picture book to draw attention to it. (jacket poster) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-940450-47-6

Page Count: 104

Publisher: McSweeney’s

Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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SOREN'S SEVENTH SONG
by Dave Eggers ; illustrated by Mark Hoffmann

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MOVING THE MILLERS' MINNIE MOORE MINE MANSION
by Dave Eggers ; illustrated by Júlia Sardà

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THE EYES & THE IMPOSSIBLE
by Dave Eggers ; illustrated by Shawn Harris

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THE SPIRIT OF THE SEA

by Rebecca Hainnu ; illustrated by Hwei Lim ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2015

A fresh, if not quite as seamless, alternative to Robert D. and Daniel San Souci’s Song of Sedna (1981).

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A popular Inuit cautionary legend, featuring a haughty young woman and a gruesome climactic twist.

Arnaq will accept no suitor, until a shaman sea bird disguised as a handsome young man sweeps her away with glittering promises to a wretched, reeking tent on a distant shore. When her father arrives to rescue her, the shaman raises such a storm that her terrified dad casts her overboard—and cuts off her fingers to keep her from holding on to the boat. Those fingers are transformed into whales and seals, and she, into a testy spirit named Nuliajuq, who calls up storms on all who “disrespect the land or the sea.” This and other modern-sounding lines (“Eventually Arnaq succumbed to complete depression”) give the otherwise formal narrative a playfully anachronistic air that may or may not be intentional. Lim illustrates the tale in a realistic rather than stylized way, using flowing lines and brush strokes to depict natural settings, faces, Arnaq’s lustrous locks (and, though seen only from a distance, fingerless hands), and a range of accurately detailed arctic and sea animals. In an afterword, the author explains that the sea spirit goes by several regional names; a pronunciation guide to Inuktitut words in this version is also included.

A fresh, if not quite as seamless, alternative to Robert D. and Daniel San Souci’s Song of Sedna (1981). (Picture book/folk tale. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-927095-75-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Inhabit Media

Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
A WALK ON THE SHORELINE
by Rebecca Hainnu ; illustrated by Qin Leng

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THE MIDDLE SHEEP

From the Ernie & Maud series , Vol. 2

by Frances Watts & illustrated by Judy Watson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2010

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Oh, the curse of being the only child—not adorable like the baby and not smart like the older sibling! Invisible, that’s how Marvelous Maud, sheep sidekick to only-child, newly selected superhero Extraordinary Ernie, feels. Maud decides to adopt a sidekick of her own. Turns out being a sidekick is no job for a middle kitten, bunny, tortoise, horse, goldfish, duckling or mouse, so Maud decides to hold a contest. Along the way, she enjoys hearing the travails of all the middle critters, but she does not notice when Ernie feels left out of the discussion. When the Baxter Branch of the Superheroes Society meets, Ernie’s ennui becomes obvious. Valiant Vera (the bravest and fastest superhero) throws down the gauntlet and bans the argumentative aces until they can work together. Decorated with frequent humorous black-and-white illustrations of winsome animals and adults in leotards, this offering is just right for readers ready for the challenge of a chapter book. Sibling conflict, animals and superheroes are all high on the interest level of young readers, making this a series to watch. (Fiction. 7-9)