Its heart’s in the right place….
Meet some popular (and amazing) individuals involved with the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Twelve-year-old drag artist Desmond is Amazing narrates this glimpse into popular names and faces that make up the recent history of queer rights in the U.S. Along the way, the author introduces himself (“I like to play video games, read, sing, collect toy trains, dance, and model. I enjoy going to school and have many friends”) and his drag inspirations. Following a brief glimpse at life before the Stonewall riots, readers learn about this historic uprising. Important figures from this time period, including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, are introduced; RuPaul also warrants a double-page spread a little later on. Additional names and faces appear, such as Pepper Labeija, Stormé DeLarverie, James Baldwin, and Laverne Cox, but only as labeled portraits; it will be up to readers to seek out more information. No drag queen likes to be upstaged, but that’s what happens with Glynn’s artwork. The bright, bold colors evoke the energy of fingerpainting and add much-needed depth and vibrancy to the work. It’s a jolt of energy, doing its best to elevate a pedestrian text: “We look back on those who took a stand at the Stonewall Riots as heroes who should be celebrated for giving LGBTQ people, like me, the freedoms we enjoy today.”
Its heart’s in the right place…. (author’s note, glossary, sources) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-374-31258-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A glorious monument to the national monuments.
The national monuments get their due.
Walker briefly recounts the history of the monuments (thank you, Teddy Roosevelt). Instead of the usual glossy photos, the text is paired with copious subtle watercolors, harmoniously arrayed with text on generous double-page spreads. Sparkling descriptions invite reader participation: “Imagine it’s 1892, and you’re arriving” in New York Harbor. “What will you see in the [pipestone] rocks?” Many monuments are in sites of superb natural beauty, but unlike the national parks, they must have historical, prehistorical, cultural, and/or scientific interest. Readers will find information on dinosaur fossils, geology, flora and fauna, and places important to Indigenous people, significant in history (Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, Stonewall National Monument, the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument), and/or connected to American leaders like Cesar Chavez. Fascinating facts are interspersed (the Washington Monument is held together through friction and gravity rather than mortar; the Pullman workers’ 1894 strike helped establish Labor Day). Regional maps throughout indicate the locations of the various monuments, divided by area: East, Central, Southwest, Mountain West, West, Alaska, and Tropics. A calm, subdued palette and geometric-based forms that use washes rather than line allow for a maximum of information without fussiness and, with help from typography, evoke classic WPA posters.
A glorious monument to the national monuments. (index) (Nonfiction. 6-10)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780711265493
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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