Light, graceful, and accessible in both words and pictures.
The life of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha, is told in this picture book.
Using simple phrases in a pleasing, steady cadence that flows restfully, author Hopkinson tells the story of the Buddha for young readers. Born Prince Siddhartha Gautama in ancient India, he spent his childhood in his father’s palace in protected luxury, since his father did not want him to experience anything painful or unhappy. But eventually Siddhartha wanted to see what was outside the palace walls, so, yielding to his son’s requests, his father let him visit the city, where he had ordered the mayor to hold a festival. Despite these precautions, Siddhartha wandered off and saw hardship and pain—an experience that left him determined to find a way to set people free from suffering. Hopkinson inserts variations on the phrase “just like you” into the narrative at key moments, thereby connecting the ancient story to the feelings and longings readers may experience—an effective device that makes the story relevant and applicable to today. Illustrator Whitman’s gracious double-page spreads mirror the text, featuring plenty of white space and a soothing, light palette. She often uses white lines, rather than dark, to delineate the pictures, which has the effect of imbuing the illustrations overall with light—enhancing the enlightenment theme of the story.
Light, graceful, and accessible in both words and pictures. (Informational picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68364-153-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sounds True
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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