Chile’s national poet and hero grew up in a small town to which the railroad brought settlers, commerce and possibilities. The newly bustling town, his loving stepmother’s fascinating stories and his sensitivity to the glories of the surrounding rainforest opened up a magical world of language for the shy, solitary stutterer and shaped and defined his gifted voice. As a teenager, he met renowned poet and Nobel Literature Prize–winner Gabriela Mistral, who recognized his talent and encouraged him to read widely. This lovely work sings along with Neruda. Ray deepens her account by judiciously interspersing her warm text with pointed excerpts from Neruda’s own autobiographical prose and gorgeous, highly personal poetry. Her gentle paintings capture Neruda’s times and world. Though young readers will be unfamiliar with the subject, relatable and sympathetic details about his boyhood will pique their interest and inspire them. The poem “Poetry,” in English and Spanish, an author’s note, more information about Neruda and Mistral and a timeline are included. (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2006
ISBN: 0-374-37627-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bold, black wood-block prints turn this memorable book about the life of a slave into a work of art. African-inspired, the detailed ebony designs printed on tan paper draw readers into Jacobs's life as a slave in North Carolina and her eventual escape (after hiding for seven years in her grandmother's tiny attic) to the North. Despite her suffering at the hands of her owners, Jacobs never became discouraged; she was taught to be independent by her ``gentle mother and proud father.'' Fleischner (The Inuit, 1995, etc.), basing her work on Jacobs's 1861 autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, writes with great empathy for her subject, and doesn't avoid difficult topics, e.g., the sexual abuse of slave women by their owners is sensitively portrayed. Readers will be introduced to one of the paradoxes in the life of a slave: the desire for freedom. ``In fleeing, [slaves] often left behind the only people they loved to go to a place where they knew no one and could trust no one.'' This is a well-written biography that also sheds light on one of America's darkest and most bitter eras. (bibliography) (Biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-7613-0111-9
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
Ross (Shakespeare and Macbeth, 1994) takes a look at Charlotte Brontâ's life and how it influenced the writing of Jane Eyre, hoping to inspire readers to tackle that novel. Lovely full-color and black-and-white illustrations bring readers powerful images of both Charlotte's and Jane's lives, which contained many similar themes, e.g., Jane Eyre's cruel experiences at Lowood School reflect Charlotte's unhappiness at the Cowan Bridge Clergy Daughters' School. In addition to the parallels between Charlotte and her fictional creation, Ross focuses on how the writer developed her craft: She read widely, indulged in ``scriblomania,'' wrote make-believe fantasies lifting herself ``out of the small world of Haworth,'' and studied with Monsieur Constantin Heger in Brussels. Ross also discusses Jane Eyre, and why it was unique when it was published (it was neither Gothic horror nor a tale of domestic manners). The insert in which that is disclosed and other inserts—on fatal diseases, Victorian England, etc.—are interesting, but also interfere with the flow of the story. Still, this is a creative approach to biography, certain to encourage readers to take longer looks at Charlotte Brontâ's novels and her life. (chronology, further reading) (Nonfiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-670-87486-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
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