Adler presents 12 heroes of the American Revolution in an attractive, if slight, volume. He selected his subjects “as examples of the many brave and diverse heroes of the Revolution.” Presented with such iconic heroes as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Paul Revere are Crispus Attucks, a former slave killed at the Boston Massacre; Deborah Sampson, whose epitaph reads “the female soldier”; Lydia Darragh, a spy; and Mary “Molly Pitcher” Hays, who served at the Battle of Monmouth. With no introduction to provide context, the one-page vignettes offer cardboard heroes at best. The dramatic, full-page watercolor illustrations provide the energy the text lacks. The bibliography is an odd assortment of sources—mostly older books for adults, with nothing pointing younger readers to the wealth of materials—including some of the author’s other works—on the subject for them. Useful only if matched with more informative sources, such as Doreen Rappaport and Joan Verniero’s recent Victory or Death! Stories of the American Revolution (p. 539). (contents, author’s notes, important dates, source notes, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2003
ISBN: 0-8234-1471-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Spinning lively invented details around skimpy historical records, Taylor profiles the 19th-century chef credited with inventing the potato chip. Crum, thought to be of mixed Native-American and African-American ancestry, was a lover of the outdoors, who turned cooking skills learned from a French hunter into a kitchen job at an upscale resort in New York state. As the story goes, he fried up the first batch of chips in a fit of pique after a diner complained that his French fries were cut too thickly. Morrison’s schoolroom, kitchen and restaurant scenes seem a little more integrated than would have been likely in the 1850s, but his sinuous figures slide through them with exaggerated elegance, adding a theatrical energy as delicious as the snack food they celebrate. The author leaves Crum presiding over a restaurant (also integrated) of his own, closes with a note separating fact from fiction and also lists her sources. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58430-255-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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