In this upper-level Easy Reader, a young Confederate deserter repays with a courageous act the Gettysburg family that shelters him. As the great battle rages nearby, Billy and his mother huddle anxiously in their farmhouse—joined in the night by a trembling young soldier who begs asylum. Dressed in new clothes and warned not to speak lest his accent give him away, the fugitive silently helps when marauding soldiers demand food, then as the defeated southern army retreats, rescues Billy, who recklessly antagonizes a passing horseman. Floca depicts the young folk and the farm, but not the battle itself, in sketchy watercolors; Hopkinson follows up with a note explaining that the episode is based on a true story. The theme of friendship across lines of antagonism will kindle deep responses in more than just students of the Civil War. (map) (Easy reader. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-83964-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2005
A blueprint for effective social action: simple, savvy, and tried and often true.
Voting rights activist and former gubernatorial candidate Abrams’ latest picture book sees her younger self taking a stand against injustice.
The delight of “TacoPizza Fryday”—a special lunch that the whole school voted on—turns sour for elementary schooler Stacey when she notices that some students are excluded because they can’t pay. Sympathetic school librarian Mr. McCormick explains that the “complicated” rules about who qualifies for free lunches leave some children out; he gently suggests that she and her friends address the school board rather than starting with a demonstration. Initially reluctant to speak in public, Stacey decides to lead a petition drive instead. She eventually nerves herself to stand up at the meeting to plead for a policy change, and when the board puts her off, she joins her friends in gently pressuring her principal every Friday with a list of kids who were left out that week. Thomas fills the illustrations with exaggeratedly wide eyes and open mouths; the crowds of diverse cheering, sign-waving students present rousing images of collective action and, at the end, collective triumph. “Imagine what else all their voices could change…together,” the author concludes pointedly, cogently adding in her closing note that sometimes “you feel like you’re fighting only for yourself, until you look around and realize that others are simply waiting for someone to go first.” Though the story is fictional, backmatter references real-life examples of Abrams learning to “speak up and take action.”
A blueprint for effective social action: simple, savvy, and tried and often true. (child hunger resources) (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780063271876
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Plenty of baseball action, but the paint-by-numbers plot is just a vehicle for equally standard-issue advice. .
For his eponymous imprint, the New York Yankees star leads off with a self-referential tale of Little League triumphs.
In the first of a projected 10 episodes based on the same number of “Life Lessons” espoused by the lead author’s Turn 2 Foundation, third-grader Derek turns in an essay announcing that his dream is to play shortstop for the New York Yankees (No. 1 on the Turn 2 list: “Set your goals high”). His parents take him seriously enough not only to present him with a “contract” that promises rewards for behaviors like working hard and avoiding alcohol and drugs, but also to put a flea in the ear of his teacher after she gives him a B-minus on the essay for being unrealistic. Derek then goes on to pull up his math grade. He also proceeds to pull off brilliant plays for his new Little League team despite finding himself stuck at second base while the coach’s son makes multiple bad decisions at shortstop and, worse, publicly puts down other team members. Jeter serves as his own best example of the chosen theme’s theoretical validity, but as he never acknowledges that making the majors (in any sport) requires uncommon physical talent as well as ambition and determination, this values-driven pitch is well out of the strike zone.
Plenty of baseball action, but the paint-by-numbers plot is just a vehicle for equally standard-issue advice. . (foundation ad and curriculum guide, not seen) (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2312-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Jeter/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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