by Deborah Mills & Alfredo Alva ; illustrated by Claudia Navarro ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2018
A timely, necessary read.
Co-authors Mills and Alva demystify la frontera in this autobiographical tale based on Alva’s childhood journey with his father from Mexico to Texas.
To provide for his growing family, Alfredo’s father decides to journey northward to “find a new home.” Alfredo joins his papá on this arduous voyage, knowing he’ll miss his family and his small village. After saying goodbye to his home and loved ones, Alfredo sets off in the early morning light alongside his father. Led to the Rio Grande by el coyote, Papa and Alfredo cross the river with the help of an old inner tube. When el coyote abandons Alfredo and his father, the pair must escape further into the harsh Texan landscape, away from la frontera. Presented in both Spanish and English, the retrospective narrative overflows with grueling, poignant details about the journey Alfredo and his father undertook. Yet Navarro’s mixed-media artwork succeeds in emphasizing the more-hopeful aspects of Alva’s story, namely love and strength in a familial context. Vivid shifts in color, light, and shadows from scene to scene gently pull readers along, complemented by powerful facial expressions during key moments. After almost a week of struggles, Alfredo and his father arrive at “the Embassy,” a makeshift camp behind a factory. As father and son adjust to their new life in the U.S., they never forget about those left behind.
A timely, necessary read. (appendix) (Picture book. 8-11)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78285-388-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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by Suzanne Slade ; illustrated by Elisa Paganelli ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2021
This indisputably timely book makes a solid case for greater recognition.
Profiles a virologist who was among the first to photograph and identify the coronavirus family.
Almeida’s own family has a significant presence in this account of her career and discoveries. Slade begins with her Glasgow-born subject’s early love of science and the death of her little brother, continues through marriage, divorce, and single parenting to track her growing reputation for expertise in microphotography and electron microscopy, then highlights the watershed human coronavirus paper she co-authored in 1967. A specific description of how she used “negative staining” to prepare her coronavirus specimens adds a laudatory glimpse of technical detail to the plain-language explanations of her discoveries. Incorporating memories and material supplied by the researcher’s daughter, the author of A Computer Called Katherine (illustrated by Veronica Miller Jameson, 2019) presents another underrecognized woman scientist as a role model. In this case, Almeida is not seen as a crusader breaking down barriers of race (she was White) and sexism but more generally as a smart, hard worker doing her best in both private and professional lives. If her character remains hard to pin down, a bit of verse preceding the expansive afterword (“Virus, Virus, shining bright / In the phosphotungstic night”) hints at a sense of humor. Single scientists of color in two group scenes are the only non-White figures in Paganelli’s clean, precisely drawn cartoon illustrations. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 77% of actual size.)
This indisputably timely book makes a solid case for greater recognition. (timeline, adult bibliography.) (Picture book/biography. 8-10)Pub Date: March 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5341-1132-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
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by Larry Dane Brimner ; illustrated by Maya Gonzales ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 14, 2021
A critical contribution to discussions of equal access and of systemic racism.
Separate but equal—even primary grade students understand this prejudicial oxymoron.
Separation is never equal. When the Lemon Grove School District’s board of trustees decided to expel every one of the 75 students who were of Mexican American descent in order to establish an all-White student body, the Lemon Grove Neighbor’s Committee—Comité de Vecinos de Lemon Grove—decided to take action. The Mexican consul in San Diego provided lawyers who filed on behalf of 12-year-old Roberto Alvarez in San Diego’s California Superior Court. Exploding the board of trustees’ assertion that the minority students were “backward and deficient,” Roberto himself, in fluent English, defended his position. This was the “first successfully fought school desegregation case in the United States.” On April 16, 1931, the decision was made public: “to immediately admit and receive…Roberto Alvarez, and all other pupils of Mexican parentage…without separation or segregation.” Brimner’s straightforward narrative follows Roberto Alvarez from his return to school after Christmas vacation only to be told he was no longer welcome to the day he was able to receive the same education as the White students. The substantial author’s note places this case in context with other desegregation cases in the U.S.—particularly in California. Gonzalez’s colorful and detailed mural-esque illustrations make the historical flavor of the times accessible.
A critical contribution to discussions of equal access and of systemic racism. (photos, sources, source notes) (Informational picture book. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68437-195-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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