Johnny loves his Uncle Silas, his mule Nell and the cows he herds back and forth each day. But he does not love being a slave. And when Uncle Silas plants the idea of service in the Union army in Johnny’s brain, it’s pretty easy for him to join up with Company C as it marches through the Hogatt farm. Adding to the Ready-to-Read early reading series, Hopkinson brings her research and storytelling talents to another little-known chapter in U.S. history for children. Floca’s simple, flat watercolors match the straightforward prose, and the blue-washed night scenes match the tension as Johnny performs an act of heroism to save the company. Though the acceptance the white soldiers show to their new recruit seems unreal, a helpful author’s note documents the kindness of these particular Union soldiers. Young Civil War buffs will welcome something they can read themselves. (Nonfiction. 5-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-83965-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
Preteen Lucy and her two younger brothers David and Harold are orphaned in a large Eastern city in the late-19th century and chosen to be riders on the orphan train. David, the elder of the brothers, leaves the train first. At a later stop, two different families select Harold and Lucy. Lucy adapts quickly to farm life and is overjoyed to see Harold at church on Sunday; they wonder if they’ll ever see David again. Kay’s singsong, cryptic verse is at odds with her subject matter. “Horses clip-clop, / Streets unclean. / Typhoid fever, / Quarantine!” Her words are as carefully chosen and evocative as ever, but they don’t fit the story. Presenting the death of parents and life on the streets in this manner feels like a trivialization of the subjects. The storytelling method better fits the tale once they reach the orphanage. Stark’s acrylic paintings are another matter entirely. He takes readers from the American version of Dickensian squalor to bucolic prairie bliss in the space of a few pages. These beautiful, impressionistic illustrations deserve a more appropriate text. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-399-23613-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Two woolly mammoths come up with a palliative for summer’s heat in this high-energy import. Weary of suffering through the short but intense Ice Age summer, Oscar and Arabella try several ineffective cooling strategies, then at last just give each other major haircuts. Their relief is so palpable that soon all the other furred and hairy creatures are lining up for trims of their own. Layton illustrates with wild, sketchy pen strokes over splashes of somewhat subdued color; the effect ranges from pleasantly messy, to frenetic in more crowded scenes. Happily, when winter comes again, the animals regain their pelts—except for the human figure who’s been capering about in the background all this time, naked bum and all. Layton caps this brief, breezy, faintly scandalous episode with the admission that there probably were no scissors, mirrors, or combs in the Ice Ages; he just made that part up. Shocking. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-7636-2148-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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