A picture-book portrait that’s beautiful as well as admiring.
With a jewel cutter’s precision of image and a like economy of language, Demi tells the story of the 16th U.S. president.
She succeeds particularly well at conveying the iconic stories associated with Lincoln: birth in the one-room log cabin; the early death of his mother and the arrival of a gifted and loving stepmother; the fierce self-education; the debates against his Senate opponent, Stephen Douglas, which Lincoln lost but which brought him wide attention. Almost every page or double-page spread holds a quote from Lincoln set on a small scroll, reflecting the primary narrative. The Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and his assassination continue the story. Demi includes child-friendly details such as Lincoln’s love of animals and his creation of the Thanksgiving holiday while also conveying the larger sweep of history in his Gettysburg Address and the participation of thousands of African-Americans as soldiers for the Union cause. The figures look almost like porcelain miniatures, each tiny and detailed, using bits of collage and a color scheme with a great deal of red, white, and blue. While there are no footnotes, the backmatter includes a map of the United States in 1861, the full text of the Gettysburg Address, a timeline of Lincoln’s life, and further quotes.
A picture-book portrait that’s beautiful as well as admiring. (Picture book/biography. 5-10)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-937786-50-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wisdom Tales
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Absolutely wonderful in every way.
A long-forgotten chapter in New York City history is brilliantly illuminated.
In mid-19th-century New York, horses and horse-drawn vehicles were the only means of transportation, and the din created by wheels as they rumbled on the cobblestones was deafening. The congestion at intersections threatened the lives of drivers and pedestrians alike. Many solutions were bandied about, but nothing was ever done. Enter Alfred Ely Beach, an admirer of “newfangled notions.” Working in secret, he created an underground train powered by an enormous fan in a pneumatic tube. He built a tunnel lined with brick and concrete and a sumptuously decorated waiting room for passenger comfort. It brought a curious public rushing to use it and became a great though short-lived success, ending when the corrupt politician Boss Tweed used his influence to kill the whole project. Here is science, history, suspense, secrecy, and skulduggery in action. Corey’s narrative is brisk, chatty, and highly descriptive, vividly presenting all the salient facts and making the events accessible and fascinating to modern readers. The incredibly inventive multimedia illustrations match the text perfectly and add detail, dimension, and pizazz. Located on the inside of the book jacket is a step-by-step guide to the creative process behind these remarkable illustrations.
Absolutely wonderful in every way. (author’s note, bibliography, Web resources) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-375-87071-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Utterly compelling.
The authors of Fatty Legs (2010) distill that moving memoir of an Inuit child’s residential school experience into an even more powerful picture book.
“Brave, clever, and as unyielding” as the sharpening stone for which she’s named, Olemaun convinces her father to send her from their far-north village to the “outsiders’ school.” There, the 8-year-old receives particularly vicious treatment from one of the nuns, who cuts her hair, assigns her endless chores, locks her in a dark basement and gives her ugly red socks that make her the object of other children’s taunts. In her first-person narration, she compares the nun to the Queen in Alice in Wonderland, a story she has heard from her sister and longs to read for herself, subtly reminding readers of the power of literature to help face real life. Grimard portrays this black-cloaked nun with a scowl and a hooked nose, the image of a witch. Her paintings stretch across the gutter and sometimes fill the spreads. Varying perspectives and angles, she brings readers into this unfamiliar world. Opening with a spread showing the child’s home in a vast, frozen landscape, she proceeds to hone in on the painful school details. A final spread shows the triumphant child and her book: “[N]ow I could read.”
Utterly compelling. (Picture book/memoir. 5-9)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-55451-490-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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