The story of this remarkable pair does not grow old, and here is a charming way to learn it for the first time.
A clear, simple narrative retells a powerful story of determination and triumph for a team of two: Anne Sullivan and her famous student, Helen Keller.
The story is nearly the stuff of legend: how the young teacher, herself partially blinded, finds a way out of the darkness for a willful blind and deaf girl whose early childhood was spent mostly without access to language. Hopkinson’s likable account for young listeners and primary-grade readers is drawn from Keller’s The Story of My Life. Appealing and dramatic anecdotes convey the breathtaking success that Anne and Helen achieved in a few short months, from Helen’s first word in the spring to her first letter later that summer. Hopkinson neatly explains the difference between sign language and the fingerspelling that Anne used to talk with Helen, describing Anne’s determination to immerse Helen in language “the way people talk into a baby’s ears.” Colón’s gentle, light-hued watercolors create a feeling of quietness, their textured lines suggesting the tactile world of touch, motion and vibration that spoke most immediately to Helen. A dozen excellent photographs of Helen Keller as a child and young adult, four of them with Anne, grace the endpapers.
The story of this remarkable pair does not grow old, and here is a charming way to learn it for the first time. (author’s note; list of acknowledgments, print and online sources) (Picture book biography. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-85706-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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